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The 

Changeless  Christ 


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And  Other  Sermons        <>  • 

'I.IH  1%  191 R 


BY  , 

EDWIN  CHARLES  DARGAN 

Editor  of  Lesson  Helps  of  the  Baptist  Sunday  School  Board; 

Former  Professor   of  Homiletics,  tLouisville   Seminary; 

Former  President  Southern  Baptist  Convention; 

Author  of  "History  of  Preaching,"  etc. 


New  York  Chicago 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 

London  and         Edinburgh 


Copyright,   1918,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York  :  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago  :  17  North  Wabash  Ave. 
London  :  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:       75     Princes    Street 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGB 

I.   The  Changeless  Christ  ...        7 

Heb.  13:8 

II.    Watchman,  What  of  the  Night?     46 

Isa.  21:11,  12 

III.  The  Passing  Material;    the  En- 

during Spiritual    ....      62 

Isa.  51 : 6 

IV.  God  and  His  People       ...      77 

Psalm  46:7 

V.   The  Sure  Promises  of  God  .      .      93 

2  Cor.  1:20 

VI.   The  Parable   of   the  Lost  and 

Found 102 

Luke  15: 1,  3 

VII.   The  Faithful  Saying       ...    121 

ITim.  1:15 

VIII.   The  Open  Secret  of  a  Great  Life   137 

Gal.  2:  20 

IX.   Christ  the  Corner  Stone       .      .    152 

Eph.  2:20 

X.   Christian  Love  and  Its  Motive   166 

Eph.  5:1,  2 

XI.   Crisis  and  Creed       ....    178 

John  6:66-69 
5 


THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST 

"Jesus  Christ  the  same  yesterday,  and  today,  and  forever,*' 
Heb.  13:8. 

THIS  is  a  great  utterance.  What  Jesus 
Christ  was,  that  he  is ;  and  what  he 
is,  that  he  will  ever  be.  The  saying 
places  him  at  the  ever  shifting  center  of 
history.  As  past  and  future  from  opposite 
directions  converge  on  the  present,  so  do 
they  converge  on  Christ.  God  has  summed 
up  all  things  in  him.  (Eph.  1 :10.)  He  is 
first  in  regard  to  all  things  (Col.  1 :18),  and 
in  him  all  things  hold  together  (Col.  1:17). 
The  most  impressive  and  wondrous  per- 
sonality of  history,  he  centralizes  "yes- 
terday" in  himself;  the  impulsive  and 
attractive  hope  of  humanity,  he  sways  the 
future  from  both  its  poles,  and  encloses 
"forever"  in  the  circle  of  his  influence;  a 
living  and  constant  force  for  human  good, 
he  is  found  at  the  heart  of  the  best  progress 

7 


8        THE   CHANGELESS  CHRIST 

of  men  ''today."  As  his  immediate  per- 
sonal contact  ^ith  his  owti  age,  though 
necessarily  limited  in  range,  was  intense 
with  life  and  power,  so  amid  the  complexity 
and  extent  of  our  life  today  there  are  cer- 
tain focal  points  of  influence  where  Christ 
is  intensely  active.  This  is  a  wondrous 
thing;  but  it  is  true.  Leaving  out  many 
elements  of  our  complex  modern  life  we 
can  find  at  three  essential  points  sufficient 
illustration  of  our  theme :  Science,  morals, 
and  religion.  And  so,  fathers  and  breth- 
ren, as  I  have  thought  and  prayed  over 
what  message  I  should  attempt  to  bring 
you,  it  has  seemed  to  me  appropriate  to 
emphasize  the  ''today"  of  this  great  text, 
so  that  we  might  consider  together  the 
place  of  power  held  by  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  in  the  life  of  our  own  time,  as  mani- 
fested in  its  scientific,  ethical  and  spiritual 
phases. 

The  Scientific  Phase 

It  is  unnecessary  to  emphasize  the  large 
and  influential  place  which  "science"  fills 
in  the  thought  and  life  of  modern  times. 
Since  the  latter  part   of  the  eighteenth 


THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST       9 

century  the  progressive  mental  forces 
among  men  have  been  under  the  dominating 
and  driving  impulse  of  the  scientific  idea. 
Every  department  of  life  and  thought 
has  been  powerfully  affected.  Great  and 
astonishing  achievements  in  the  discovery 
of  truth  have  been  recorded  and  the 
methods  used  in  this  field  have  been 
extended  to  well-nigh  all  departments 
of  thought.  The  scientific  world  has 
become  intoxicated  with  its  knowledge 
and  power,  and  has  too  often  been 
arrogant  in  its  intellectual  pride.  Re- 
ligious leaders  have  been  sometimes 
frightened  and  angered,  and  sometimes  led 
astray,  by  the  claims  of  iconoclastic 
'science";  and  some  men  of  science  have 
been  too  hasty  to  conclude  that  their  par- 
tial knowledge  was  really  all  there  was  to 
know,  and  have  attacked  religion  too 
harshly.  Thus,  unhappily,  needless  con- 
flict has  arisen  between  religion  and 
science,  or  rather  between  some  scientists 
and  some  religionists.  But  now  at  last 
things  are  beginning  to  look  better. 
Science  is  more  respectful  to  religion,  and 
religion  is  more  friendly  to  science.  And 
so  it  has  become  possible  on  both  sides  to 


10      THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST 

consider,  with  thoroughness  and  candor, 
the  true  place  which  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
occupies  in  regard  to  the  science  of  our 
times. 

And  first  of  all  we  may  say  that  Christ 
is  a  proper  object  of  scientific  investiga- 
tion. The  objects  of  scientific  research  and 
exposition  are  phenomena,  facts  and 
forces.  With  all  reverence  be  it  said,  Jesus 
Christ  is  each  and  all  of  these.  In  his 
historic  appearance  and  abiding  influence 
he  is  a  phenomenon  to  be  observed  and 
explained ;  in  his  actual  life  and  works  and 
the  effects  still  produced  by  him  he  is  a 
fact  beyond  dispute;  and  in  the  great 
changes  and  results  consequent  upon  his 
appearance  and  life  he  is  a  force  to  be 
reckoned  with. 

As  a  phenomenon,  then,  Christ  demands 
observation  and  explanation.  The  first  is 
easily  conceded.  He  forces  himself  upon 
the  notice  of  mankind.  He  cannot  be  ig- 
nored. Among  the  unusual,  unique,  im- 
pressive personalities  of  history  he  stands 
pre-eminent.  His  own  query  is,  **Who  do 
men  say  that  I  am?'*  The  confident  answer 
of  discipleship  to  inquiry  is,  ''Come  and 
see!'*     Some  explanation  of  so  extraor- 


THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST      11 

dinary  a  character  must  be  attempted. 
Science  is  challenged  and  must  make  an- 
swer. If  protoplasmic  mud,  or  a  fly's  foot, 
makes  appeal  to  microscopic  biology;  if 
planets  and  stars,  nebulae  and  infinite 
spaces  make  appeal  to  telescopic  astron- 
omy; if  mounds  and  monuments  make 
appeal  to  ethnic  archaeology;  if  documents 
land  literatures  make  appeal  to  historic 
criticism;  if  thinkers  and  systems  make 
appeal  to  philosophic  scrutiny;  if  the  evo- 
lution of  human  relations  makes  appeal  to 
the  study  of  sociology;  can  science  be 
excused  if  it  evades  or  declines  considera- 
tion of  the  phenomenon  of  the  Christ?  For 
that  phenomenon  two  explanations  are 
current.  One  is  that  Jesus  Christ  is,  as 
other  great  men  are,  the  product  of  human 
evolution.  He  was  the  child  of  human 
parents,  gifted  above  the  average,  deriving 
his  thought  and  character  from  his  Jewish 
antecedents,  influenced  by  his  environment, 
moulded  by  the  course  of  events,  but  im- 
pressing upon  all  these  the  mark  of  his 
peculiar  genius.  This  may  be  called  the 
natural  theory  of  Jesus  as  a  phenomenon. 
iThe  other  is  the  super-natural  theory. 
Mark,  it  is  not  an  un-natural  theory.    That 


12      THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST 

which  ranges  above  the  ordinary  course 
of  nature  is  not  thereby  contradictory  to 
nature.  The  super-natural  is  neither  im- 
possible nor  irrational.  Therefore  what 
may  be  called  the  super-natural  theory  of 
the  Christ  has,  on  a  purely  intellectual 
basis,  as  good  claim  to  scientific  recogni- 
tion as  the  natural  theory.  The  super- 
natural theory  is,  briefly,  the  belief  that 
Jesus  Christ  as  a  phenomenon,  is  the  ex- 
pression of  a  direct  divine  interposition 
in  the  course  of  affairs;  that  he  was  born 
of  a  virgin  by  the  immediate  power  of 
God;  that  so  he  is  the  Son  of  God  in  a 
peculiar  sense ;  and  as  such  is  the  mediator 
between  God  and  man,  being  himself  both 
God  and  man.  Grant  the  existence,  per- 
sonality and  activity  of  God,  and  the 
theory  that  Christ's  appearance  among 
men  in  his  time  and  place  was  a  real  divine 
incarnation  is  rationally  tenable  as  a 
scientific  hypothesis.  Choice  between  the 
theories,  as  in  all  such  cases,  must  be  de- 
termined logically  by  their  relative  ability 
to  account  for  the  facts  in  the  case;  and 
ethically  by  the  character  and  inclinations 
of  the  person  choosing.  These  last  are 
usually  the  decisive  factor,  but  at  least  rea- 


THE   CHANGELESS  CHRIST      13 

son  demands  a  thorough  and  candid  con- 
sideration of  all  the  facts  in  order  to  see 
on  which  side  the  greater  probability  lies. 
Science  is  also  required  to  give  careful 
attention  to  Jesus  Christ  as  a  fact,  for  in 
truth  he  is  in  the  course  of  human  affairs 
a  momentous  fact,  and  must  be  so  accepted 
and  dealt  with.  Some  faint  conception  of 
his  value  as  a  fact  may  be  formed  by 
imagining  himself  and  all  that  he  stands 
for  subtracted  from  history.  So  is  he  to 
be  considered  both  as  a  historic  and  a 
present  fact.  The  former  is  generally  con- 
ceded, the  latter  may  by  some  be  ques- 
tioned. Further,  in  dealing  with  this 
double  aspect  of  the  matter  we  must  bear 
in  mind  the  obvious  truth  that  Jesus  as 
a  fundamental  and  prime  fact  involves 
and  subordinates  a  number  of  related 
facts.  Not  all  of  these  are  of  equal  im- 
portance, and  some  are  less  capable  of  con- 
vincing proof  than  others.  Without  going 
into  details  it  is  sufficient  for  our  present 
purpose  to  say  that  the  main  facts  of 
Christ's  historic  reality,  and  the  general 
credibility  of  the  accounts  we  have  of  his 
career,  are  such  as  to  establish  him  per- 
manently and  immovably  within  the  field 


14      THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST 

of  scientific  study.  Moreover,  those  ob- 
servable indications  of  his  activity  among 
the  elements  of  our  modern  life  and 
thought  make  it  impossible  to  ignore  the 
fact  of  his  abiding  influence.  Whether  we 
are  to  account  for  that  as  only  an  impulse 
from  the  past,  or  additionally  and  con- 
tinuously as  a  living  force  in  the  present, 
will  depend  upon  our  personal  relations  to 
Christ.  But  the  fact  of  his  influence  is  here 
among  us. 

And  this  brings  us  to  think  of  Christ  as 
a  force.  Whatever  theory  of  his  person  we 
may  hold,  whatever  fact  or  facts  concern- 
ing him  we  may  accept  or  reject,  it  re- 
mains and  must  ever  remain  undeniably 
true  that  Jesus  Christ  was  and  is  a  force 
of  the  first  magnitude  in  the  moral  and 
spiritual  progress  of  mankind.  As  we  are 
more  fully  to  develop  these  thoughts  in 
what  follows  it  is  enough  here  to  mention 
them  in  illustration  of  the  position  that  in 
its  study  of  great  forces  science  cannot  and 
must  not  ignore  ''Christ  the  power  of  God 
and  the  wisdom  of  God."     (1  Cor.  1:24.) 

There  is  also  another  point  of  view  for 
regarding  Christ  scientifically,  namely, 
that    he    is    a    contributor    to    scientific 


THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST      15 

thought.  What  he  added  to  the  knowledge 
of  mankind  in  the  most  important  sphere 
of  human  interest  surely  claims  compari- 
son as  to  value  and  effect  with  what  any 
scientist  has  done  in  any  field  of  research. 
When  we  think  of  how  the  great  men  of 
science  have  made  their  contributions  to 
knowledge  and  thought,  we  shall  find  that 
the  most  obvious  statements  are  in  a  meas- 
sure  true  of  Jesus.  Every  scientist  is  a 
traditionalist.  The  larger  part  of  his 
science  is  derived  from  those  who  worked 
and  taught  before  him.  Absolute  original- 
ity in  the  field  of  science  would  be  an  amaz- 
ing mass  of  falsehood  and  folly.  No 
science  worth  the  name  but  rests  on  previ- 
ous accumulation.  Jesus  recognizes  the 
best  religious  tradition.  He  says,  **I  came 
not  to  destroy  but  to  fulfill."  This  was 
true  scientific  method.  It  is  today.  (Let 
no  sane  man  be  terrified  or  more  than 
amusingly  angered  by  the  epithet  "tradi- 
tionalist"; it  is  oftener  a  token  of  his 
critic's  narrowness  than  of  his  own!) 
What  was  true  in  religious  thought  Jesus 
accepted  and  built  on.  But  this  was  not 
all.  Every  scientist  of  note  has  made  cor- 
rection of  previous  mistakes  and  added 


16      THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST 

new  knowledge  or  new  view.  This  was  also 
w^liat  Jesus  did.  The  truths  which  he  gave 
to  the  world  concerning  God  and  the  soul 
had  a  newness  and  a  power  which  smote 
contemporaries  with  amazement,  and  which 
the  lapse  of  centuries  has  not  been  able  to 
tarnish  or  -weaken.  Today,  as  yesterday, 
he  is  the  world's  greatest  master  on  these 
high  themes.  How  these  great  truths  came 
to  him  we  may  not  know  or  be  able  to  ex- 
plain. His  was  not  the  way  of  laborious 
investigation  such  as  we  now  call  by 
eminence  the  scientific  method.  Whatever 
we  may  venture  to  think  concerning  his 
mental  processes,  at  least  his  times  and 
the  thought  material  with  which  he  was 
chiefly  concerned  did  not  demand  exactly 
the  methods  now  in  vogue.  But  however 
arrived  at,  truth  is  of  itself  scientific  mate- 
rial. Therefore,  even  though  we  have  to 
distinguish  the  processes  of  Jesus  from 
those  of  the  modern  scientific  mind,  the 
great  truths  he  taught  must  ever  remain 
among  the  materials  of  scientific  thinking 
on  the  subjects  which  he  considered. 
Further,  there  is  a  finalit}''  and  sureness 
about  his  teaching  which  have  the  true 
scientific  ring.    This  is  as  far  as  possible 


THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST      17 

removed  from  mere  dogmatism  and  con- 
ceit, but  it  carried  in  its  first  impression 
as  it  does  today  the  confidence  of  authority. 
When  assured  conviction  has  come  to  the 
scientific  mind  there  has  been  joyous  con- 
fidence; when  the  stamp  of  finality  has 
been  fixed  the  general  intelligence  rests 
with  tranquil  assurance.  The  scientific 
certitude  of  Jesus  is  one  of  his  enduring 
marks  of  greatness.  Another  thing  which 
illustrates  his  scientific  position  is  his  im- 
pression of  his  teachings  upon  others.  It 
has  been  told  of  Sir  Humphrey  Davy  that 
on  being  asked  what  he  regarded  as  his 
greatest  discovery  he  promptly  answered, 
"Michael  Faraday."  The  band  of  disci- 
ples and  the  school  of  thought  are  a  testi- 
mony to  the  greatness  of  any  thinker. 
The  great  names  of  past  and  recent  times 
which  throng  to  the  memory  when  this 
statement  is  understood,  illustrate  its  truth 
beyond  the  need  of  argument.  Judged  by 
this  test  Jesus  stands  in  the  front  rank 
of  scientific  thinkers.  The  acceptance  and 
propagation  of  his  teachings  through  nine- 
teen centuries,  the  great  souls  in  whom 
that  acceptance  and  propagation  have  been 
as   life   itself, — these   point   back  to   the 


18      THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST 

Master  as  one  whose  contribution  to  en- 
during thought  on  the  great  themes  which 
attracted  him  remains  pre-eminent  in 
power  and  worth.  The  best  thinkers  and 
thinking  on  those  themes  today  owe  alike 
their  original  impulse  and  their  enduring 
authority  to  the  mind  of  Christ. 

The  Ethical  Phase 

One  of  the  most  heartening  indications 
of  true  progress  in  our  modern  life  and 
thought  is  what  is  called  ''the  ethical 
note."  Of  course  it  is  not  new.  It  is  the 
glory  of  humanity  that  moral  action  is  one 
of  its  most  cherished  and  firmly  entrenched 
principles.  Again,  this  does  not  mean 
that  there  are  no  drawbacks  and  sad  dis- 
appointments in  the  way  of  moral  ad- 
vancement. Alas!  no.  But  without  one- 
sided or  exaggerated  optimism  we  still  can 
heartily  rejoice  in  the  continued  and  per- 
haps increasing  insistence  laid  by  modern 
leaders  of  thought  and  action  upon  the 
ethical  principle. 

Even  some  current  tendencies  in  Chris- 
tian thought  which  we  must  deplore  as 
perversions  and  watch  as  perils  reveal  this 


THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST      19 

emphasis.  The  swing  of  thought  from 
creed  to  conduct  is  one,  and  the  subtle  or 
open  advocacy  of  the  doctrine  of  salvation 
by  character  is  another.  Now  there  is  no 
need  to  despise  or  even  depreciate  creed 
in  the  supposed  interest  of  conduct.  It  is 
surely  no  difficult  mental  feat  to  establish 
a  clear  and  consistent  relation  between 
what  we  ought  to  believe  and  what  we 
ought  to  do.  It  is  only  half-thinkers,  in- 
tellectual poseurs — of  whom  there  is  a  mul- 
titude— who  sniff  at  doctrine  in  their  con- 
descending laudation  of  conduct.  The 
other  error  noted  is  far  more  serious,  both 
in  its  meaning  and  consequences,  since  it 
cuts  at  the  foundations  of  the  Christian 
faith.  Salvation  by  one's  own  goodness  is 
certainly  not  a  New  Testament  doctrine, 
but  some  who  profess  and  call  themselves 
Christians  hold  and  teach  it.  Yet  while 
we  protest  as  strongly  as  possible  against 
this  fundamental  and  hurtful  heresy,  we 
cannot  fail  to  recognize  it  as  another  de- 
cisive indication  of  the  powerful  hold 
which  the  ethical  element  in  Christianity 
has  taken  upon  the  most  recent  thought. 

Is  Jesus  Christ  a  potent  force  in  the 
ethical  life  of  the  twentieth  century?    To 


20      THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST 

ask  the  question  is  to  answer  it.  Only  ig- 
norance or  wilful  blindness  could  fail  to 
return  an  affirmative  answer.  Indeed  per- 
haps the  majority  of  thoughtful  observers 
(not  necessarily  professed  Christians) 
would  even  go  farther  and  say  that  by  all 
odds  the  most  important  and  fruitful  force 
in  morals  today  is  Christ.  For  us,  breth- 
ren, this  view  is  a  glorious  and  fixed  con- 
viction. This  great  assemblage  of  men 
and  women  is  on  this  point  both  an  un- 
answerable argument  and  an  uplifting 
inspiration  to  itself.  I  am  but  your 
mouthpiece,  speaking  for  yourselves  to 
yourselves,  when  I  remind  you  that  your 
very  thoughts  of  moral  goodness  are  those 
which  have  been  instilled  into  your  minds 
as  the  teachings  of  Jesus;  that  your 
highest  ideal  of  possible  human  virtue  is 
the  adorable  example  of  your  Lord;  and 
that  the  best  help  and  hope  for  righteous- 
ness of  which  you  are  conscious  is  the  in- 
fluence of  Christ.  And  you  are  not  alone. 
Great  as  you  are,  you  represent  here  a 
greater  multitude  whom  you  have  left  be- 
hind to  come  to  this  annual  gathering. 
And  we  Southern  Baptists,  in  our  millions, 
are  but  a  division  of  the  vast  army  of  be- 


THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST      21 

lievers  in  Jesus  Christ  in  all  the  world 
who  accept  his  teachings  as  their  guide,  his 
example  as  their  inspiration,  his  influence 
as  their  help  in  the  moral  struggle.  These 
are  the  key  words  which  describe  and  ex- 
hibit the  force  which  Jesus  is  in  the  ethical 
life  of  today;  his  teachings,  his  example, 
his  influence. 

It  is  a  well-beloved  commonplace  of 
ethical  and  religious  assertion  that  the 
moral  teachings  of  Jesus  are  the  best  the 
world  has  known.  This  is  not  to  say  that 
there  are  none  good  but  his;  nor  that  his 
precepts  include  every  possible  detail  of 
conduct ;  but  it  is  meant  that  in  the  princi- 
ples of  right  action  enunciated  by  Jesus 
Christ  the  highest  and  broadest  level  of 
moral  teaching  has  been  attained.  In 
character  it  is  correct  and  final.  Instead 
of  being  judged  by  other  standards  it  is 
the  standard  for  judging  others.  In  purity 
it  is  safe  beyond  the  most  prejudiced  criti- 
cism. The  sensuous  and  the  selfish  find  no 
place  in  Christ's  teachings.  Appeal  is  ever 
made  to  that  which  is  highest  and  holiest 
in  man  and  in  God.  But  we  must  go  deeper 
than  the  exquisite  surface  of  quality  which 
appears  in  the  ethical  teachings  of  Jesus, 


22      THE   CHANGELESS  CHRIST 

and  get  down  to  their  inner  character. 
There  are  two  ultimates  in  these  teachings : 
The  ultimate  of  principle,  and  the  ultimate 
of  expression.  Jesus  touches  the  ultimate 
principle  of  righteousness  in  life  when  he 
refers  it  to  the  inner  heart  and  motive,  not 
to  the  outer  deed  and  word.  How  he 
blighted  with  his  infinite  scorn  the  clean 
outside  of  the  platter  which  inwardly  was 
full  of  filth !  the  giving  of  alms  that  was  a 
pretense;  the  tithing  of  mint  that  w^as  an 
excuse  for  the  neglect  of  weightier  matters ; 
the  long  prayers  that  were  a  cloak  for  cov- 
etousness  and  extortion.  It  is  not  the  un- 
washen  hands  but  the  evil  thoughts  that 
defile ;  it  is  not  merely  the  adulterous  deed 
that  is  impure,  but  the  purposed  unchaste 
look;  it  is  not  the  cruel  act  or  word  alone 
that  hurts,  but  the  unkind  thought  and  feel- 
ing of  the  heart.  Jesus  did  not  originate 
this  principle;  it  is  as  self-evident  in 
morals  as  are  some  of  the  mathematical 
axioms,  and  it  had  long  before  found  im- 
mortal expression  in  the  saying,  "Keep 
thy  heart  with  all  diligence,  for  out  of  it 
are  the  issues  of  life."  But  the  emphasis, 
the  clearness,  the  illustration  which  this 
eternal  principle  of  conduct  finds  in  the 


THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST      23 

teachings  of  Jesus  fix  it  forever  in  human 
thought  as  an  ethical  ultimate.  The  other 
ultimate  is  that  of  expression.  This  ap- 
pears in  the  great  summary  of  the  law 
which  Jesus  gave  in  answer  to  an  inquiry : 
"Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with 
all  thy  heart  .  .  .  and  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself."  In  putting  together  these  two 
precepts  of  the  law  of  God  to  Israel,  in 
summing  up  thus  the  message  of  the  proph- 
ets to  mankind,  Jesus  has  given  succinct 
expression  to  the  thought  of  God  on  every 
possible  phase  of  human  conduct.  Details 
indeed  are  not  given — this  was  not  the 
place  for  them — but  the  all-comprehensive 
and  final  statement  of  human  duty  is  here. 
The  mind  of  man  can  go  no  further  in  its 
expression.  To  love  God  supremely  over 
himself  and  man  equally  with  himself  is  the 
ideal  and  the  limit  of  moral  obligation. 
Every  particular  of  ethical  conduct  is  ref- 
erable to  this  general  law.  It  recognizes 
the  true  Source  and  the  eternal  Authority 
of  morals  in  God ;  it  exhibits  the  immediate 
field  and  scope  of  morals  in  our  relations 
to  each  other ;  it  defines  the  real  motive  and 
conquering  force  for  morals  as  love.  There 
is  nothing  more  to  be  said. 


24      THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST 

But  granting  that  the  moral  teachings 
of  Jesus  exhibit  the  highest  character  and 
rest  upon  the  ultimate  principles  of  right 
the  question  arises:  Are  these  teachings 
applicable  and  practical  amid  our  modern 
conditions?  Here  we  are  beset  by  the  ex- 
treme of  literalism  on  the  one  hand  and  by 
that  of  repudiation  on  the  other.  As  usual, 
the  truth  lies  between.  Let  it  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  question  is  only  possible  as 
to  a  few  details  and  not  at  all  as  to  the 
comprehensive  principle  of  the  Master's 
teaching.  Then  in  regard  to  such  detailed 
precepts  as  may  seem  to  be  in  our  cases  of 
doubtful  applicability,  several  things  must 
be  said — though  time  does  not  admit  of  full 
discussion.  Some  of  these  particular  pre- 
cepts necessarily  grew  out  of  the  circum- 
stances and  habits  of  the  age  in  which 
Jesus  taught,  and  therefore  in  the  special 
form  and  expression  of  them  may  admit  of 
some  modification.  But  in  all  such  cases 
the  underlying  principle  of  action  or  char- 
acter involved  is  to  be  souglit  and  applied. 
Another  consideration  is  that  in  many 
cases  our  Lord  evidently  gave  a  partial  or 
extreme  statement  of  a  neglected  and  im- 
portant truth  in  order  to  give  it  much' 


THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST      25 

needed  emphasis,  leaving  the  modifying 
condition  to  be  sought  either  in  other  state- 
ments of  his  own  or  in  the  obvious  con- 
verse of  what  he  was  at  the  moment  stress- 
ing. Thus,  when  he  says  that  in  order  to 
be  his  disciple  one  must  *'hate  his  father 
and  mother,"  it  is  evident  he  meant  no 
contradiction  to  the  fifth  commandment, 
but  only  to  show  with  startling  emphasis 
where  supreme  allegiance  was  owing.  But 
making  the  fullest  possible  allowances  for 
all  these  things,  it  remains  that  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  features  of  the  moral 
teachings  of  Jesus  is  their  wondrous  ap- 
plicability to  all  ages,  races  and  times. 
Never  has  this  truth  received  fuller  illus- 
tration than  in  our  own  day  of  world  wide 
propagation  of  the  gospel. 

It  is  another  glorious  commonplace  of 
Christian  thought  to  say  that  the  exalted 
moral  teachings  of  Jesus  were  most  power- 
fully illustrated  and  are  therefore  for  all 
time  reinforced  by  his  own  example.  The 
great  impression  made  by  his  life  upon  his 
contemporaries,  and  the  utter  failure  to 
discredit  his  character,  are  matters  of  rec- 
ord. The  effect  of  that  peerless  character 
upon  the  imagination  and  love   of  men 


26      THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST 

throughout  all  ages  since  he  lived  is  his- 
toric. The  acceptance  of  the  example  of 
Jesus  as  a  moral  force  in  the  modern 
world  is  easily  seen  by  those  who  read  and 
observe.  Even  among  thoughtful  unbe- 
lievers this  is  conceded.  The  oft-quoted 
passage  from  John  Stuart  Mill  (Three  Es- 
says on  Religion,  page  253ff.)  may  well 
stand  as  one  of  the  most  telling  and  in- 
structive of  its  kind.  This  great  and  rep- 
resentative skeptical  thinker  of  the  middle 
nineteenth  century  says:  ''The  most  valu- 
able part  of  the  effect  on  the  character 
which  Christianity  has  produced,  by  hold- 
ing up  in  a  Divine  Person  a  standard  of 
excellence  and  a  model  for  imitation,  is 
available  even  for  the  absolute  unbeliever 
and  can  never  more  be  lost  to  humanity. 
.  .  .  And  whatever  else  may  be  taken 
away  from  us  by  rational  criticism,  Christ 
is  still  left;  a  unique  figure,  not  more  un- 
like his  precursors  than  all  his  followers, 
even  those  who  had  the  direct  benefit  of  his 
personal  teachings.  .  .  .  When  this  pre- 
eminent genius  is  combined  with  the  quali- 
ties of  probably  the  greatest  moral  re- 
former, and  martyr  to  that  mission,  who 
ever  existed  upon  earth,  religion  cannot  be 


THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST      27 

said  to  have  made  a  bad  choice  in  pitching 
on  this  man  as  the  ideal  representative  and 
guide  of  humanity ;  nor,  even  now,  would  it 
be  easy,  even  for  an  unbeliever,  to  find  a 
better  translation  of  the  rule  of  virtue 
from  the  abstract  into  the  concrete,  than  to 
endeavor  so  to  live  that  Christ  would  ap- 
prove our  life. ' '  Other  skeptics,  who  have 
adinired  the  moral  character  and  teachings 
of  Jesus  could  be  quoted  in  similar  strain ; 
while  among  believers  there  have  been 
many  to  extol  the  example  of  the  Master  as 
a  powerful  force  in  the  development  of 
character.  Contemporary  Christian  litera- 
ture and  even  some  occasional  injudicious 
movements  emphasize  the  great  truth  that 
the  example  of  Jesus  is  still  a  live  and  po- 
tent force  in  the  production  and  mainte- 
nance of  the  highest  types  of  character 
known  in  modern  life. 

And  so  both  his  teachings  and  example 
sum  and  perpetuate  themselves  in  the 
abiding  and  powerful  influence  of  Jesus. 
Certainly  that  influence  is  not  supreme  in 
contemporary  life — would  that  it  were! — 
but  it  is  potent  and  recognized.  It  appears 
in  the  individual  Christian  life  and  charac- 
ter.   Though  there  is  a  multitude  of  unbe- 


28      THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST 

lievers  and  of  unworthy  nominal  believers, 
it  yet  remains  true  that  real  Christians  are 
the  salt  of  the  earth  and  the  light  of  the 
world.  It  also  appears  in  the  immense 
quantity  of  good  Christian  literature  that 
is  still  produced  and  read.  This  is  said 
with  full  recognition  of  the  greater  im- 
mensity of  bad  and  pseudo-Christian  liter- 
ature, which  finds  publishers  and  readers. 
Nor  must  we  slight  the  organized  and  con- 
ventional methods  by  which  the  moral  influ- 
ence of  Jesus  is  continued  and  enforced  in 
our  modern  life.  I  mean  the  churches  and 
their  varied  institutions  and  agencies.  Say 
all  that  we  sadly  have  to  say  about  the 
neglect  of  worship,  the  decline  of  the  power 
of  the  church,  the  disregard  of  preaching, 
the  decay  of  family  piety,  and  all  the  other 
talk  of  that  sort,  the  fact  remains  that 
though  not  what  they  ought  to  be  either  in 
character  or  effect,  none  of  these  are  dead 
things,  and  they  still  extend  and  enforce 
the  moral  influence  of  Jesus.  In  these  and 
other  ways  that  influence  often  receives 
some  recognition  even  where  it  is  osten- 
sibly disavowed  and  denied.  One  may  be 
an  unbeliever,  even  a  bad  and  blatant  one, 
and  yet  such  moral  aspirations  and  senti- 


THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST      29 

ments  as  he  has  will  plainly  show  traces  of 
Christ.  Often,  too,  persons  who  have  no 
ethical  principles  of  their  own  will  admire 
those  which  in  others  exemplify  the  influ- 
ence of  Jesus.  It  is  said  that  many  of  the 
grossest  men,  who  swear  at  the  church  and 
deride  all  professing  Christians,  yet  pro- 
claim their  admiration  of  Christ  himself. 

We  must  not  omit  one  other  important 
matter  in  this  connection,  and  that  is,  our 
duty  as  Christians  to  assert  and  maintain 
the  rightful  place  of  Jesus  in  the  ethical 
life  of  today.  That  duty  is  enforced  upon 
us  by  two  considerations  which  require 
fuller  notice  than  can  be  given  here :  The 
current  confusion  as  to  moral  standards, 
and  the  awful  laxity  in  moral  practice 
characteristic  of  our  social  life  today.  Tak- 
ing Christ  as  the  representative  of  God, 
and  his  summary  and  endorsement  of  the 
law  of  God  as  the  ultimate  authority  in 
morals,  the  Christian  has  an  advantage 
which  it  is  his  duty  to  press  with  all  vigor 
and  earnestness.  An  article  by  Mr.  Harold 
Bolce  in  a  recent  number  of  The  Cosmo- 
politan Magazine  gives  an  appalling  ac- 
count of  what  is  taught  on  this  vital  mat- 
ter in  some  of  our  leading  colleges  and  by 


30      THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST 

some  of  the  most  eminent  teachers  upon 
social  and  moral  questions  of  our  times. 
Making  due  allowance  for  whatever  gar- 
bled and  sensational  statements  may  char- 
acterize the  article,  even  if  a  part  of  what 
it  says  is  true  it  is  time  for  us  Christians  to 
take  notice.  Teachings  repudiating  the  au- 
thority of  God  and  Christ  in  morals,  boldly 
rejecting  the  sanctity  of  the  home  and  the 
ethics  of  marriage  in  the  interests  of  pleas- 
ure, sneering  at  the  foundations  of  Chris- 
tian conduct,  are,  according  to  this  writer, 
openly  taught  even  in  some  institutions 
professedly  Christian !  This  is  no  time  for 
timidity  and  truckling  to  socalled  **  ad- 
vanced thought,"  which  is  oftentimes  a  fine 
name  for  abominable  principles.  If  we  de- 
throne and  repudiate  the  God  w^ho  speaks 
in  Christ  as  the  supreme  and  ultimate  au- 
thority in  morals,  what  is  left  us?  Confu- 
sion worse  confounded!  The  easy-going 
theory  of  evolution — whatever  is  is  right; 
the  loose  and  lustful  theory  of  pleasure — 
w^hatever  we  like  to  do  is  right ;  the  narrow 
and  selfish  theory  of  utilitarianism — what- 
ever seems  best  for  the  majority  is  right ; 
the  variable  theory  of  custom — whatever 
happens  to  be  common  anywhere  is  right  j 


THE   CHANGELESS  CHRIST      31 

the  gone-mad  theory  of  individualism — 
whatever  comes  to  me  as  right  is  right; 
the  desperate  theory  where  the  extreme  of 
despotism  and  anarchism  meet — nothing  is 
right  and  everything  is  wrong,  and  might 
is  right.  Take  these,  or  Christ !  Martineau 
has  done  valuable  service  to  the  cause  of 
theistic  ethics  in  his  great  work,  Types  of 
Ethical  Theory,  in  which  he  trenchantly 
and  profoundly  criticizes  all  the  erroneous 
and  partial  theories  and  founds  the  ethical 
principle  in  the  nature  of  God  as  intuitively 
reflected  in  the  moral  nature  and  conscious- 
ness of  man.  To  this  we  only  have  to  add 
— and  the  addition  is  both  rational  and 
easy — that  in  Jesus  Christ,  His  Son,  God 
has  spoken  the  authoritative  word  on  moral 
good  and  moral  duty.  Be  it  ours  to  catch 
and  exemplify  the  apostolic  exhortation: 
**Be  not  conformed  to  this  world,  but  be  ye 
transformed  by  the  renewing  of  your  mind, 
that  ye  may  prove  what  is  that  good,  and 
acceptable,  and  perfect  will  of  God.'* 
''Other  foundation  can  no  man  lay  than 
that  which  is  laid,  which  is  Jesus  Christ." 
The  need  of  taking  and  holding  this  high 
ground  is  terribly  emphasized  for  us  in  the 
hideous  immoralities  which  such  teachings 


32      THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST 

as  have  been  indicated  condone  and  en- 
courage as  they  exist  among  us.  We  need 
be  no  hopeless  pessimists  to  open  our  eyes 
and  see  where  the  festering  sores  of  our 
modern  sins — which  alas !  are  only  ancient 
sins  continued — appear.  They  infest  our 
whole  social  life,  polluting  our  pleasures, 
cankering  our  politics,  corrupting  our  busi- 
ness, defiling  our  homes,  ruining  our  youth, 
debauching  our  men  and  women!  This  is 
no  time  to  listen  to  the  voice  of  academic 
charmers  charming  never  so  wisely,  when 
they  insinuate  into  the  minds  of  eager 
youths  the  insidious  and  all  too  w^elcome 
doctrines  of  living  as  they  like.  It  is  time 
to  hold  up  the  Christ  as  Guide  of  the  con- 
duct and  Lord  of  the  will.  It  is  time  for 
prophets  in  the  pulpit  and  saints  in  the 
social  life,  for  the  voice  that  cries  aloud 
and  the  salt  that  has  not  lost  its  savor. 

The  Spiritual  Phase 

There  is  general  recognition  of  a  decided 
recoil  from  the  materialism  which  marked 
much  of  the  philosophic  and  scientific 
thought  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Not 
only  in  the  theories  of  thinkers  is  this  ap- 


THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST      S3 

parent,  but  also  in  tlie  less  profound  and 
more  common  ways  in  which  the  mind  of 
an  epoch  expresses  itself.  That  there  are 
perils  and  evils  even  in  such  a  healthy  re- 
coil as  this  may  be  granted  without  denial 
of  its  value  upon  the  whole.  The  reaction 
may  go  too  far,  it  may  carry  absurd  and 
injurious  excrescences  upon  its  back,  it  may 
even  trample  some  pearls  of  precious  truth 
under  the  feet  of  its  grossest  perversions, 
or  it  may  take  aerial  flights  on  gossamer 
wings  of  mysticism  and  be  lost  to  the  sight 
of  ordinary  mortals.  Yet  such  distortions 
are  common  in  the  history  of  thought,  and 
should  not  unduly  distress  us.  Every  ex- 
treme has  its  reaction  to  the  opposite  pole. 
Men  will  doubtless  long  continue  to  be  fool- 
ish and  say  some  foolish  things  even  on  the 
side  of  real  truth  and  progress.  But  on  the 
whole,  this  recurrence  to  the  realm  of  the 
unseen  and  the  spiritual  from  a  too  exclu- 
sive application  to  material  facts  and 
forces  is  a  wholesome  and  hopeful  phase 
of  modern  life  and  thought.  That  in  the 
universe  and  in  us  which  cannot  be  seen 
nor  handled,  weighed  nor  counted,  but  yet 
is,  and  is  mighty,  has  come  to  be  thought  of 
once  more  as  entitled  to  respect.  This  state 


34      THE   CHANGELESS   CHRIST 

of  things  is  opportune  for  the  enforcement 
of  religious  truth;  for  the  recalling  of 
men's  minds  to  the  eternal  verities  which 
are  in  Christ  Jesus.  Let  us  therefore  no- 
tice with  gratitude  and  conviction  the  place 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  the  spiritual 
life  of  today. 

One  thing  of  primary  importance  here,  as 
well  as  of  deep  and  apparently  ever  deep- 
ening interest,  is  the  relation  of  Jesus  to 
religious  experience.  It  is  almost  star- 
tling, in  view  of  conditions  existing  after 
the  middle  of  the  last  century,  to  see  how 
leaders  of  thought  are  beginning  to  recog- 
nize religious  experience  as  a  field  for  sci- 
entific induction  and  generalization.  We 
greet  the  inductions  with  some  degree  of 
hope,  but  are  naturally  somewhat  cautious 
yet  as  to  the  generalizations !  But  making 
every  qualification  which  common  pru- 
dence may  suggest,  we  hail  the  entrance 
of  science  upon  this  task.  Truth  will  bear 
investigation,  and  religious  experience  is 
certainly  one  of  the  most  important  pos- 
sible departments  of  research.  The  induc- 
tions of  science  only  confirm  and  empha- 
size what  Christian  thinkers  already  knew, 
and  they  leave  no  doubt  that  religious  ex- 


THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST      35 

perience  is  a  tremendous  fact  and  force  in 
the  psychic  and  social  life  of  mankind — a 
fact  and  force  which  the  best  science  can 
not  afford  to  ignore.  One  of  the  conclusions 
to  which  scientific  investigation  is  surely 
pointing,  and  on  which  Christian  convic- 
tion assuredly  rests,  is  that  the  Source  of 
true  religious  experience  is  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  We  can  not  here  go  far  in  the  dis- 
cussion of  this  great  topic.  It  has  been 
taken  up  on  the  scientific  side  by  such  men 
as  James,  Starbuck,  Coe,  and  others ;  and 
on  the  evangelical  side  by  our  own  Dr.  E. 
Y.  Mullins  in  a  luminous  and  spirited  dis- 
cussion in  his  Why  is  Christianity  True? 
by  H.  W.  Clark  in  his  Philosophy  of  Chris- 
tian Experience,  and  a  number  of  others. 
Leaving  out  that  wide  field  of  general  re- 
ligious experience  which  the  study  of  com- 
parative religion  and  the  future  inductions 
of  science  may  open  up,  and  confining  our- 
selves to  distinctively  Christian  experience 
as  described  in  the  New  Testament  and  in 
Christian  literature,  and  as  observed  and 
exchanged  in  the  fellowship  of  believers, 
we  discover — as  we  should  expect — both  a 
remarkable  variety  of  detail  and  an  equally 
remarkable   unity   of   origin.     Conscious 


36      THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST 

Christian  experience  unanimously  refers  to 
Christ  as  its  Source.  Now  this  must  not  be 
regarded  as  a  sort  of  necessary  verbal  tru- 
ism only,  for  we  must  remember  that  in 
this  deliverance  of  the  believer's  conscious- 
ness Christ  stands  for  God — God  made 
manifest  as  personal,  historic,  real.  God 
comes  into  the  Christian  consciousness  by 
the  personal  contact  of  the  individual  be- 
liever with  Christ.  In  him  the  two  sides 
of  that  contact  unite;  the  divine  origina- 
tion, the  human  acceptance;  in  more 
familiar  words,  regeneration  and  faith. 
So  far  as  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  is  con- 
cerned, that  also  finds  splendid  illustration 
in  this  meeting  place  of  the  soul  with  God. 
Paul  gives  the  fitting  expression  when 
(Eph.  2:18),  speaking  of  Jew  and  Gentile, 
he  says :  '  *  Through  him  we  both  have  our 
access  in  one  Spirit  unto  the  Father." 
Thus  God  in  Christ,  or  Christ  as  God,  is 
today  as  yesterday  and  forever  the  one 
Source  of  true  religious  experience. 

The  next  step  in  unfolding  the  relation 
of  Jesus  to  the  spiritual  life  of  our  time 
brings  us  heart  to  heart  with  the  sweet  old 
gospel  story.  Even  now,  as  when  he  first 
came  into  the  world,  and  as  he  evermore 


THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST      37 

will  be,  is  Jesus  Christ  the  Saviour  from  sin. 
Fallen  but  not  hopeless  humanity  heard 
of  the  Seed  of  the  Woman  who  should 
bruise  the  serpent's  head.  Expectant 
prophecy  dimly  foretold  of  One  who  should 
be  wounded  for  our  transgressions,  upon 
whom  should  be  laid  the  iniquity  of  us  all, 
whose  soul  should  be  made  an  offering  for 
sin,  who  therein  should  justify  many  be- 
cause he  should  bear  their  iniquities.  An 
angelic  evangel  proclaimed  the  Christ  as 
**  Jesus"  because  he  should  save  his  people 
from  their  sins.  The  forerunner's  voice 
acclaimed  him  as  the  Lamb  of  God  who 
taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world.  His  own 
consciousness  of  the  supreme  purpose  of 
his  mission  found  utterance  in  the  tre- 
mendous claims  that  the  Son  of  Man  had 
come  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was 
lost,  that  he  would  give  his  life  a  ransom 
for  many,  that  if  a  man  believed  not  in 
him  he  should  die  in  his  sins,  that  he  was 
the  way  and  the  truth  and  the  life  and  no 
man  could  come  to  the  Father  but  through 
him.  Apostolic  preaching  proclaimed  that 
there  is  no  salvation  in  any  other,  for  there 
is  none  other  name  given  under  heaven 
among  men  whereby  we  must  be  saved. 


38      THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST 

Apostolic  theology  affirmed  that  there  is 
one  God  and  one  Mediator  between  God 
and  men,  himself  man,  Christ  Jesus. 
Apostolic  experience  witnessed  that  it  is 
a  faithful  saying  and  worthy  of  all  ac- 
ceptance that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the 
world  to  save  sinners.  Apostolic  vision  de- 
scribed amid  the  glories  of  the  heavenly 
state  a  Lamb  on  the  throne,  by  whose 
blood  the  happy  saints  have  been  re- 
deemed and  purified.  And  before  Revela- 
tion ends  history  begins,  and  through 
nineteen  centuries  has  been  borne  constant 
testimony  through  thousands  of  hearts 
and  lives  that  the  way  of  salvation  lies 
through  Jesus  Christ.  The  present  age 
sets  its  seal  upon  this  historic  mtness 
and  adduces  its  millions  to  aver  that  today 
in  every  land  and  nation,  be  it  to  many 
or  to  few,  the  Christ  is  proclaimed  and  ac- 
cepted still  as  the  Saviour  from  sin. 

Familiar,  indeed,  and  dear  to  our  minds 
and  hearts,  are  the  implications  of  this 
doctrine.  Jesus  saves  us  from  the  domin- 
ion and  the  penalty  of  sin.  The  cross 
purposes  of  our  spiritual  life,  "the  divided 
self,"  of  which  modern  psychology  talks, 
which  Paul  had  so  powerfully  described 


THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST      39 

in  the  seventh  chapter  of  Romans,  we  know 
only  too  painfully  well.  The  sad  scenes  of 
falling  short  of  our  own  possible  best,  the 
remorse  and  almost  despair  which  some- 
times assail  us  in  view  of  our  sins,  the 
bitter  consciousness  of  remembered  fault, 
and  the  ceaseless  fight  against  indwelling 
evil — all  this  we  know.  Ah,  yes !  And  we 
know,  too,  how  Jesus  cares  and  helps! 
From  that  first  glad  hour  when  the  sense 
of  pardon  overcame  with  resistless  joy  the 
deep  grief  of  penitence,  through  all  those 
ups  and  downs  of  the  spiritual  struggle  till 
this  very  hour,  we,  my  brethren,  need  no 
philosopher  or  scientist  to  tell  us  whence 
we  got  our  help.  Our  business  is  to  tell 
him.  If  we  know  anything  at  all  we  know 
that  our  highest  inspiration  to  constant 
conflict  with  evil,  our  best  help  in  whatever 
success  we  have  had  in  the  fight,  and  our 
comforting  hope  of  final  and  enduring  vic- 
tory, are  found  in  Jesus  and  in  Jesus  only. 
But  under  and  over  and  all  through  this 
present  help  in  our  trouble  with  sin  comes 
the  precious  doctrine  of  the  Cross!  It  is 
that  Jesus  has  offered  a  sufficient  sacrifice 
for  our  sin.  Not  only  its  power  in  and 
over  us  is  counteracted  by  his  gracious 


40      THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST 

prosence,  but  its  dreadful  penalties  now 
and  hereafter  are  met  for  us  in  his  atone- 
ment. He  died  for  us,  the  just  for  the  un- 
just, that  he  might  bring  us  to  God.  He 
died  for  our  sins  and  rose  again  for  our 
justification.  His  blood  not  only  cleanses 
our  consciences  from  the  guilt  of  sin,  but 
satisfied  before  God's  judgment  seat  for 
that  guilt.  It  is  time,  it  always  is  time, 
to  preach  with  sureness  of  conviction  and 
experience  the  doctrine  of  the  Cross.  It 
is  the  world's  greatest  need  in  the  twen- 
tieth as  it  was  in  the  first  century.  If  the 
Grgeco-Roman  civilization,  rotten  at  heart, 
needed  the  preaching  of  Jesus  Christ,  no 
less  does  our  modern  society,  with  all  its 
abounding  evils  and  crimes,  need  it.  Sin 
is  no  more  without  penalty  now  than  it 
ever  was.  "The  soul  that  sinneth  it  shall 
die,"  is  as  true  a  dictum  for  the  modern 
as  the  ancient  world.  We  may  change  our 
language  and  our  views  of  hell,  but  hell 
does  not  cease  to  be  the  inevitable  and 
bitter  penalty  of  a  sinning  and  impenitent 
soul.  We  may  shift  the  emphasis  in  our 
theology  from  the  justice  to  the  love  of 
God,  but  God  Himself  does  not  cease  to 
be  just.    We  may  vary  our  theory  of  the 


THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST      41 

origin  of  sin,  but  the  fact  of  sin  can  not 
be  averted  by  averting  our  looks  from  it. 
No  less  today  than  in  all  human  todays, 
yesterdays  and  tomorrows,  the  fact  and  the 
penalty  of  human  sin  emphasize  the  need 
of  a  divine  redemption;  and  for  every  to- 
day as  it  comes  and  goes  that  redemption 
is  once  for  all  provided  in  Jesus  Christ. 
Red  lined  across  the  awful  verdict  of  con- 
science and  of  God  is  written  the  gracious 
and  sovereign  pardon : ' '  There  is  therefore 
now  no  condemnation  to  them  that  are  in 
Christ  Jesus." 

Our  final  illustration  of  the  place  of 
Christ  in  the  spiritual  life  of  today  is  found 
in  the  glorious  truth  that  he  is  the  Giver 
of  eternal  life.  Nothing  has  been  more 
efficacious  in  redeeming  thought  from  the 
deadly  grip  of  materialism  than  the  irre- 
pressible yearning  for  immortality.  To 
live,  to  live  on,  and  to  live  better — what 
a  deep  desire!  But  who  shall  tell  us 
whether?  and  how?  In  the  face  of  this 
infinite  longing  philosophy  becomes  poetic, 
and  science  sentimental ;  but  they  bring  us 
no  certain  word.  It  is  still  Jesus  who 
speaks  with  sanity  and  with  authority 
upon  this  momentous  question  of  the  real 


42      THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST 

and  the  enduring  life  of  the  spirit.  And 
he  speaks  with  a  serene  and  firm  confi- 
dence which  invites  and  encourages  our 
own  calm  and  sure  trust.  His  voice  is  the 
hope  of  the  world.  ''Let  not  your  heart 
be  troubled;  believe  in  God,  and  believe 
in  me";  "I  am  the  resurrection  and  the 
life:  he  that  believeth  on  me,  though  he 
die,  yet  shall  he  live;  and  whosoever  liv- 
eth  and  believeth  in  me  shall  never  die." 
It  was  thus  the  early  disciples  understood 
and  accepted  him.  For  John  tells  us: 
"We  have  seen  and  bear  witness  and  de- 
clare unto  you  the  life,  the  eternal  life, 
which  was  with  the  Father  and  was  mani- 
fested unto  us."  And  Peter  writes: 
''Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  according  to  his 
great  mercy  begat  us  again  unto  a  living 
hope  by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ 
from  the  dead,  unto  an  inheritance  incor- 
ruptible and  undefiled  and  that  fadeth  not 
away."  And  Paul  declared  that  "the 
wages  of  sin  is  death,  but  the  gift  of  God 
is  eternal  life,  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord";  and  further,  that  our  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ  has  abolished  death  and 
brought    life    and    immortality    to    light 


THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST      43 

through  the  gospel.    His  word  to  them  is 
their  sure  word  to  us. 

We  recall  that  on  one  occasion,  after 
Jesus  had  spoken  words  hard  to  be  under- 
stood, many  that  had  believed  him  to  be 
the  Messiah,  but  were  not  prepared  to  take 
him  at  his  full  meaning,  went  back  and 
walked  no  more  with  him.  Then,  turning 
to  the  Twelve  he  asked,  *'Will  ye  also  go 
away?"  Then  Peter,  answering  for  them 
and  for  all,  even  for  us,  said,  ''Lord,  to 
whom  shall  we  go?  Thou  hast  words  of 
eternal  life,  and  we  have  believed  and 
know  that  thou  art  the  Holy  One  of  God. ' ' 
This  is  our  case.  To  whom  shall  we  go 
for  assurance  of  life  eternal?  Not  to  the 
hard  materialist  who  cynically  rejects  it; 
not  to  the  frivolous  sensualist  who  ignores 
and  scorns  it;  not  to  the  gloomy  fatalist 
who  will  merely  bow  to  the  inevitable, 
whatever  it  may  be ;  not  to  the  philosophic 
poet  who  sings  sweetly  of  it  as  a  joy  of 
the  imagination;  not  to  the  rationalistic 
scientist  who  says  that  he  can  neither 
prove  nor  disprove  it,  and  that  a  reason- 
able man  may  believe  in  it  if  he  so  chooses ; 
no,  not  to  these,  but  to  Jesus  Christ.  His 
is  still  the  voice  of  clear  conviction:    ''I 


44      THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST 

am  the  way  and  the  truth,  and  the  life"; 
his  is  still  the  voice  of  tender  invitation: 
''Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  arc 
heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest";  his 
is  still  the  voice  of  the  Good  Shepherd 
speaking  to  reassure  his  timid  but  trust- 
ing sheep:  ''I  give  unto  them  eternal  life, 
and  they  shall  never  perish." 

Thus,  0  Jesus,  do  thy  people  here  as- 
sembled accept  and  hail  thee,  the  same  yes- 
terday, and  today,  and  forever!  While 
tumultuous  today  crowds  with  stress  and 
strain  into  yesterday,  and  swiftly  gather- 
ing yesterdays  lengthen  into  forever  past, 
we  come  around  again  to  face  forever 
future;  and  still  we  see  and  salute  thy 
commanding  presence  amid  them  all. 
''Thou  art  the  same,  and  thy  years  shall 
not  fail."  0  incomparable  Teacher,  we 
would  think  thy  high  and  holy  thoughts 
after  thee!  0  matchless  Guide,  we  would 
follow  thy  strong  and  confident  leadership 
in  pursuit  of  purity  and  righteousness !  0 
divine  Saviour,  perfected  through  thy 
human  suffering,  we  would  trust  thee  alone 
for  salvation  and  immortality !  To  thee  we 
bring  our  baffled  yet  eager  minds  for 
truth  on  things  beyond  our  ken,  to  thee  we 


THE  CHANGELESS  CHRIST      45 

bring  our  wayward  and  oft  bewildered 
hearts  for  help  in  daily  duty,  to  thee  we 
bring  our  hurt  and  sorrowing  souls  for 
healing  from  sin  and  for  hope  of  life  ever- 
more! Here  at  thy  pierced  and  hallowed 
feet  we  rest  until  the  day  dawn  and  the 
shadows  flee  away! 


II 


WATCHMAN,  WHAT  OF  THE 
NIGHT? 

"The  burden  of  Dumah.  He  calloth  to  me  out  of  Seir, 
Watchman,  what  of  the  night?  Watchman,  what  of  the  night? 
The  watchman  said.  The  morning  cometh,  and  also  the  night: 
if  ye  will  enquire,  enquire  ye:  return,  come."    Isaiah  21:11,  12. 

THIS  is  one  of  those  obscure,  yet 
striking  passages  of  Scripture 
which  awaken  our  curiosity  and 
interest  without  entirely  satisfying  them. 
The  meaning  is  not  perfectly  clear,  and  yet 
it  is  enough  so  to  bring  a  valuable  lesson 
to  one  who  attentively  considers  the  words. 
There  is  no  fully  satisfactory  explanation. 
The  passage  is  very  brief,  abrupt,  and 
without  logical  connection  with  what  pre- 
cedes or  follows.  It  is  simply  one  among 
several  brief  prophecies,  without  date,  and 
without  logical  order,  which  are  grouped 
here  in  the  book  of  Isaiah.  We  do  not 
know  what  time  or  occasion  brought  forth 
the  prophecy.  We  do  not  know  where 
Isaiah  was,  nor  who  the  enquirer  was,  nor 

46 


WHAT  OF  THE  NIGHT?         47 

why  the  divine  answer  came  in  this  form. 
Like  many  other  dark  passages  of  Scrip- 
ture, its  very  obscurity  awakens  interest, 
and  suggests  a  teaching  of  value.  Dark 
Scriptures  and  dark  providences  alike, 
often  bring  us  important  and  helpful  les- 
sons, even  when  we  cannot  penetrate  their 
meaning  or  see  plainly  God's  purpose  in 
them.  Yet  this  abrupt  and  obscure  proph- 
ecy, when  carefully  studied,  may  yield  us 
some  lessons  of  hope  and  help  as  we  trace 
its  meaning.  Let  us  observe  the  enquiry, 
the  answer,  and  the  admonition. 

L  The  Enquiry.  The  title  is,  ''The 
burden  of  Dumah."  The  word  "burden" 
as  employed  by  the  prophet  signifies  the 
message  which  God  sends.  It  is  equivalent 
to  oracle,  as  employed  in  the  ancient  myth- 
ology, being  the  answer  of  the  deity.  But 
the  word  burden  itself  carries  the  thought 
of  judgment,  of  punishment  sometimes.  It 
is  the  doom,  as  well  as  the  revelation,  sent 
of  God  through  the  prophet.  This  last 
shade  of  meaning  probably  does  not  ap- 
pear here.  It  is  simply  the  revelation  of 
God  to  the  prophet  concerning  Dumah. 
The  word  Dumah  signifies  silence,  and  is 
a  poetic  name  for  Edom,  later  known  as 


48         WHAT  OF  THE  NIGHT? 

Idumea.  It  was  the  wild  country  to  the 
South  of  Judea,  inhabited  by  the  descend- 
ants of  Esau.  The  feud  between  the  twin 
brothcT-s  had  become  historic  in  their  de- 
scendants. There  were  frequent  wars  and 
there  was  much  hatred,  yet  there  were 
intervals  of  peace  and  many  lines  of  inter- 
course between  the  two  peoples.  Dumah 
stands  for  heathenism,  for  hostility  to  Is- 
rael and  to  the  God  of  Israel.  It  repre- 
sents a  proud,  irreligious,  cruel  enemy  to 
the  Israel  of  God.  Yet  from  such  a  source 
there  comes  a  call  to  the  prophet.  "He  call- 
eth  to  me  out  of  Seir."  From  the  rocky 
fortress  of  Edom  there  rings  out  a  cry  to 
the  prophet  of  God.  From  Dumah  the 
silence  is  broken,  and  out  of  the  dark  there 
rings  a  cry  of  distress.  The  night  has  long 
settled  down  upon  the  people  of  Edom; 
gloom  was  about  them.  Their  present  was 
dark,  and  their  future  darker.  The  listen- 
ing prophet,  like  a  watchman  waiting  for 
the  dawn,  hears  across  the  wilderness  the 
call  of  neighboring  heathendom  as  it  rings 
in  his  ears,  '*  Watchman,  what  of  the 
night  r'  Perhaps  the  words,  according  to 
the  late  G.  A.  Smith,  may  be  better  ren- 
dered ''what  off  of  the  night?"    That  is, 


WHAT  OF  THE  NIGHT?         49 

how  much  night  remains  !  How  long  before 
day  comes?  When  will  better  times  of 
spiritual  as  well  as  temporal  blessings 
come  to  us?  Shall  we  be  always  enveloped 
in  the  cloud  and  darkness  of  irreligion  and 
despair?  Canst  thou,  0  prophet,  as  the 
spokesman  of  the  living  God,  give  us  a 
word  of  hope  or  of  help  in  our  long  night  ? 
Something  like  this  seems  to  be  the  mean- 
ing of  this  strange  enquirer.  Some,  even 
in  Edom,  were  looking  for  the  day,  and 
longing  for  it  to  come. 

Is  it  so  in  our  time,  that  in  once  far-off 
lands  which  now  have  been  brought  nigh 
through  the  wondrous  development  of 
transportation  and  trade  there  are  some 
even  in  heathen  darkness  who  are  looking 
for  the  light?  Through  the  lengthening 
years  of  missionary  activity,  amid  all  na- 
tions of  the  earth,  frequent  voices,  like  that 
of  the  unknowTi  soul  that  calls  from  Seir, 
are  heard.  To  alert  and  watchful  Chris- 
tian leaders  the  yearning  cry  of  non- 
Christian  nations  has  often  made  itself 
heard.  Is  our  night  to  be  forever?  Is  there 
not  in  your  Christian  truth  some  message 
of  help  and  hope  for  us?  Many  instances 
have  come  from  various  ages  and  lands 


50         WHAT  OF  THE  NIGHT? 

through  mission  workers  to  show  that  time 
and  again  the  yearning  of  the  so-called 
heathen  peoples  has  reached  out  toward 
the  light  of  Christian  truth.  Sometimes 
the  missionary  and  his  people  have  been 
rebuked  for  their  tardiness  in  bringing  the 
gospel  message.  Time  and  again  some 
weary  and  longing  soul  has  said  to  the 
watchman,  ''Why  did  you  tarry  so  long? 
If  you  had  this  message,  why  did  you  not 
bring  it  before?  How  long  will  it  be  until 
others  come  among  our  benighted  people 
to  bring  the  gospel  message?"  Even  now, 
today,  such  cries  go  up  from  yearning 
spirits  in  those  countries  which  have  long 
been  the  scene  of  modern  missionary  en- 
deavor. Word  comes  of  multitudes  in  the 
far  East,  Japan,  Korea,  China,  India,  who 
are  yearning  for  the  light ;  who  are  asking, 
''Watchman,  what  of  the  night,"  or,  "How 
much  off  of  the  night?  How  long  until 
day  dawns,  and  the  light  of  the  world  shall 
illumine  our  land?" 

We  must  not  direct  our  thoughts  to  far 
off  lands  alone,  but  think  of  the  heathen 
that  are  near  us,  nay,  that  are  even  among 
us.  Dumah  adjoined  Judah.  Edom  was 
akin  to  Israel.    The  great  worldly  world 


WHAT  OF  THE  NIGHT?         51 

around  us  is  of  our  own  kind.    The  hope- 
less heart  is  found  in  the  midst  of  modern 
civilization,  and  the  yearning  soul,  unsatis- 
fied with  the  things  of  earth,  often  cries 
out  in  its  night  and  lonesomeness,  ''Watch- 
man, what  of  the  night?"   This  pleasure- 
crazed    world,    frivolous,    self-gratifying, 
heartless,  has  in  its  throng  sometimes  a 
longing  soul  who  cries  out  to  some  watch- 
man for  God,  ''How  much  off  the  night?" 
This   materialistic,   wealth-sodden   world, 
groaning  under  its  self-imposed  burdens 
of  business  care,  cannot  always  suppress 
its  own  groanings,  and  asks  some  watch- 
man on  the  height  of  Christian  hope  and 
faith,    "Watchman,    how    much    off    the 
night  ? "  Is  there  not  something  better  than 
to  be  busy  for  the  accumulation  of  wealth? 
In  the  tangled  web  of  our  modern  life,  god- 
less, gay,  greedy,  in  the  night  of  our  hope- 
lessness, our  strain,  our  carking  care,  is 
there  not  some  yearning  cry  to  the  enlight- 
ened soul  who  knows  better?    Is  there  not 
some  voice  of  appeal  to  the  w^atchful  Chris- 
tian spirit  for  a  message  of  help  and  hope 
in  the  Dumah  of  the  world's  spiritual  si- 
lence and  darkness?    Yes,  we  hear  such 
voices  now  and  then,  and  may  be  able  to 


52         WHAT  OF  THE  NIGHT? 

say  with  the  prophet,  ''He  calleth  to  me 
out  of  Seir,  Watchman,  what  of  the 
night  ? ' '  What  answer  shall  we  bring.  Let 
us  turn  to  our  obscure  prophecy  again  and 
find  it. 

II.  The  Answer.  It  seems  strange,  ob- 
scure, unsatisfactory,  a  double  answer.  It 
is  incomplete.  It  does  not  bring  all  that 
was  wanted,  and  yet  it  is  an  answer.  The 
watchman  said,  ' '  The  morning  cometh  and 
also  the  night."  Yes,  the  morning  cometh. 
There  is  hope  of  a  better  day.  The  night 
will  not  endure  forever.  The  coming 
glories  of  Messiah's  reign  in  Zion  may 
shine  also  upon  Mount  Seir.  The  spiritual 
blessings  promised  to  ancient  Israel  may 
include  Israel's  neighboring  foe,  and  bless 
even  the  vindictive  and  hostile  tribe  of  her 
historic  enemy.  Even  from  Mount  Seir 
one  shall  not  call  in  vain.  Hated  Esau  may 
become  beloved,  and  the  blessing  denied  to 
the  ancestors  may  come  upon  his  remote 
descendants.  "The  morning  cometh.'* 
Even  the  Edomite  may  not  despair.  If  he 
were  in  earnest,  and  sought  the  God  of 
Israel,  he  should  not  seek  in  vain.  This 
much  the  prophet  watchman  could  assur- 
edly say.    So  also  in  our  modern  conditions 


WHAT  OF  THE  NIGHT?         53 

the  like  promise  may  be  cherislied  for  the 
heathen  abroad  and  the  heathen  at  home. 
The  Christian  watchman  may  confidently 
say, ' '  The  morning  cometh. ' '  A  better  day 
lies  before  us.  There  is  hope  of  an  obedi- 
ent and  prosperous  church,  glowing  with 
spiritual  life  and  rejoicing  in  fulfilled 
blessed  hopes.  There  is  hope  of  an  evan- 
gelized world.  Nearer  than  ever  before  in 
the  history  of  Christianity  is  this  an  accom- 
plished fact.  Every  nation  and  kindred 
and  people  is  having  the  offer  of  redemp- 
tion in  Christ  Jesus.  The  missionaries  of 
the  cross  have  gone  into  every  land  and 
laid  down  their  lives  among  every  people 
to  make  known  the  unsearchable  riches  of 
Christ.  Christianity  of  the  purest  type 
has  blossomed  where  foul  orgies  were  prac- 
ticed in  the  name  of  false  religion.  Idols 
have  been  thrown  to  the  owls  and  the  bats, 
and  the  cross  of  Christ  has  been  raised  up. 
Deserted  temples  in  places  have  given  way 
to  Christian  chapels,  where  crowding  wor- 
shippers have  come,  and  are  coming  in 
greater  throngs,  to  hear  the  message  of 
salvation.  In  many  a  place  long  closed  to 
gospel  light,  the  morning  cometh. 

Can  we   say  that  this  is  true  in   the 


54         WHAT  OF  THE  NIGHT? 

worldly  world  about  us  ?  Just  now  the  ruin 
of  war  wastes  the  fairest  parts  of  Europe. 
The  storm  and  night  lower  above  lands 
where  the  noblest  institutions  of  Christian- 
ity have  long  flourished.  It  seems  as  if  un- 
bridled heathenism  had  broken  loose  in  a 
world  that  ought  to  be  Christian  and  at 
peace.  Yet  as  there  are  voices  to  cry  for 
help,  there  are  also  indications  that  the 
cry  is  heard.  ''The  morning  cometh."  The 
unsatisfied  heart  of  man  calls  out,  and  calls 
not  in  vain.  We  are  told  that  in  many  of 
the  lands  afflicted  by  war  there  is  a  great 
turning  toward  God.  There  is  recognition 
of  a  higher  power  than  that  of  our  vaunted 
civilization.  There  is  a  feeling  of  fault. 
There  is  a  yearning  for  a  restraining  hand, 
a  guiding  wisdom,  a  purifying  and  uplift- 
ing presence.  So  may  our  twentieth  cen- 
tury, still  in  its  youth,  see  the  turn  toward 
a  brighter  day,  and  those  who  watch  the 
signs  of  the  times  be  able  to  assure  the 
faint-hearted  with  the  prophetic  word, 
**The  morning  cometh." 

Yet  we  know  it  is  not  all  bright.  The  re- 
sponse of  the  watchman  was,  ''Also  the 
night."  He  must  check  undue  confidence. 
From  his  post   of  observation  he  must 


WHAT  OF  THE  NIGHT?         55 

know  that  the  forces  of  evil  were  not  to  be 
overcome  in  a  day,  nor  could  the  best  hopes 
of  the  best  souls  expect  to  find  fruition  in 
a  night.  If  the  morning  is  near  there  will 
be  a  short  day  and  the  night  will  come 
again.  As  night  follows  day,  so  trouble 
follows  joy;  so  ignorance  succeeds  to  en- 
lightenment; so  wickedness  takes  its  turn 
with  righteousness.  No  moral  or  spiritual 
victory  is  ever  complete  in  this  world.  The 
shades  must  come  along  with  the  shines; 
the  bitterness  must  be  mingled  with  the 
sweets;  *'also  the  night."  By  such  a  fig- 
ure the  existence  of  both  evil  and  good 
must  necessarily  be  represented  as  alter- 
nating, but  we  know  that  they  co-exist.  The 
evil  is  along  with  the  good.  A  little  boy, 
bright  with  the  hopes  of  youth,  and  begin- 
ning to  look  out  upon  life  with  some  degree 
of  thoughtfulness,  was  driving  along  the 
road  with  his  father  one  day,  a  wise  and 
good  servant  of  God.  The  lad  said, 
*' Father,  there  is  so  much  good  in  the 
world — I  know  there  is  bad  too.  Is  it  not 
true  that  for  every  bad  thing  there  is  also 
some  good  thing?"  The  more  experienced 
father  smiled  rather  sadly,  and  said  to  the 
boy,  *'Yes,  but  the  evil  preponderates." 


56         WHAT  OF  THE  NIGHT? 

The  lad  fell  silent  and  pondered  over  the 
long  word,  whose  meaning  he  did  not  ex- 
actly catch,  and  yet  instinctively  knew.  So 
to  all  observers  of  the  slow  progress,  at 
home  and  abroad,  of  Christian  light  and 
life  and  love,  there  must  come  the  check 
even  to  their  most  ardent  hopes  of  that 
word  which  says  "also  the  night."  It  will 
not  be  full  day  for  our  poor,  sinful  world 
until  he  shall  come  whose  right  it  is  to  rule, 
and  to  whom  the  sovereignty  of  the  earth 
belongs.  What  shall  be  our  attitude  of 
mind  and  heart  in  view  of  the  double  cer- 
tainty of  morning  and  of  night;  of  prog- 
ress and  yet  of  retard ;  of  growing  power, 
and  yet  of  hindering  weakness ;  of  victori- 
ous truth,  and  yet  of  persistent  error?  If 
both  morning  and  night  are  still  to  be  our 
portion  Avhile  we  wait,  in  what  spirit  shall 
we  abide?  Let  us  go  back  again  to  our 
passage,  and  find  our  lesson. 

III.  The  Admonition.  More  obscure  yet 
seems  the  answer  of  the  watchman.  It 
seems  even  to  bring  a  rebuke.  To  those 
who  call  out  of  Seir  he  answers,  *  *  If  ye  vnW. 
enquire,  enquire  ye :  return,  come. '  *  What 
does  he  mean?  Only  that  his  message  is 
not  final ;  that  day  and  night  still  must  be. 


WHAT  OF  THE  NIGHT?         57 

No  final  day  has  yet  arrived.  Meantime 
the  enquiring  soul  should  not  stifle  its  en- 
quiries. The  longing  heart  should  not  sink 
back  into  despair.  The  obscure  and  unsat- 
isfactory answer  of  the  watchman  is  meant 
to  encourage  the  one  who  calls.  It  says, 
"Keep  on  asking.  I  may  have  a  better 
message  for  you  later.  Come  again.  My 
answer  is  confessedly  incomplete,  but  it  is 
not  final."  Edom  may  have  hopes  along 
with  the  certainty  of  continued  trouble,  but 
it  is  her  privilege  to  keep  on  asking  if  the 
night  will  not  soon  pass. 

And  this  must  also  be  the  answer  of  the 
modern  watchman.  He  must  say  to  the 
voices  which  come  from  the  heathen  world 
around  him,  "If  you  will  enquire  keep  on 
enquiring.  I  have  a  message  for  you.  I 
cannot  say  everything  will  be  bright  all  at 
once,  but  I  can  say  it  is  worth  your  while 
to  pursue  your  enquiries.  You  are  direct- 
ing your  request  in  the  right  direction.  If 
you  wish  to  keep  on  asking,  keep  on.'* 
Here  is  your  hope  of  an  answer.  God  is 
not  unmindful  of  your  cry.  From  the  holy 
hill  of  Zion  there  comes  a  word  of  reassur- 
ance to  harsh  and  heathenish  Seir.  From 
the  church  of  the  living  God  in  this  mod- 


58         WHAT  OF  THE  NIGHT? 

ern  age,  with  all  her  faults  and  failures, 
there  must  come  to  the  sinful  world  which 
envelops  her  the  watchman's  answer.  If 
you  wish  your  answer  upon  the  dark 
problems  of  sin,  enquire  of  me.  The  en- 
lightened Christian,  not  by  any  ambition  or 
assumption  of  his  own,  but  through  the 
call  of  God  and  his  enlightening  grace,  is 
still  the  waiting  watchman  to  ring  out  the 
Avorld's  best  hope.  The  church  must  pu- 
rify herself  and  strengthen  herself  and  de- 
vote herself  yet  more  and  more  that  she 
may  be  able,  with  serene  confidence,  to  an- 
swer back  to  an  enquiring  world,  *'If  ye 
will  enquire,  enquire  ye."  Before  the  prob- 
lem the  proper  state  of  mind  is  not  sur- 
render, but  continued  enquiry.  Before  the 
problems  of  the  ages,  before  the  failures 
even  of  the  best,  the  right  attitude  of  soul 
for  a  world  that  needs  help  and  hope  is 
not  one  of  abandonment,  but  one  of  con- 
tinued effort  to  know.  Through  the  his- 
toric channels  of  her  knowledge  of  God,  the 
church  must  still  pour  the  refreshing 
waters  of  God's  grace  and  knowledge  upon 
a  parched  and  weary  world.  Ezekiel's 
vision  of  the  river  that  flowed  from  under 
Mount  Zion  and  brought  life  wherever  it 


WHAT  OF  THE  NIGHT?         59 

came  is  still  apt  for  the  needy  world  of 
today.  The  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  is  still  the  hope  of  mankind,  and 
they  who  are  seeking  for  the  higher  light 
must  be  pointed  to  him  who  is  *'the  Lamb 
of  God,  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the 
world."  We  Christians  still  have  a  mes- 
sage. We  must  say  to  enquirers  from  all 
quarters,  ' '  If  ye  will  enquire,  enquire  ye. ' ' 
Our  light  is  not  full,  but  we  have  it.  Our 
problems  are  not  all  solved,  but  we  have 
faith  to  wait,  encouraged.  With  us  you 
will  find  the  best  light  and  the  best  help. 
If  you  want  knowledge  of  God  and  hope 
of  eternal  life,  come,  ask  us. 

And  so  the  counsel  grows  emphatic.  The 
watchman  multiplies  his  words — '' Return, 
come. ' '  There  is  an  imperative  that  comes 
from  possession  of  assured  hope.  There 
is  an  imperative  that  comes  from  the  ex- 
perience of  a  satisfied  mind.  He  who  can 
say  "I  know  whom  I  have  believed"  can 
urge  those  who  do  not  know  to  come  and 
stand  by  him.  The  realization  of  a  divine 
life  in  the  heart  is  itself  a  plea  to  those 
who  have  it  not. 

So  catching  our  inspiration  from  the 
ancient  prophet,  in  his  dealings  with  the 


60         WHAT  OF  THE  NIGHT? 

world  of  sin  and  doubt,  and  yet  of  yearn- 
ing, that  lay  before  him,  let  us  ring  out 
our  answer,  obscure  and  partial  though  it 
be;  let  us  say  to  enquiring  souls,  whether 
in  far  distant  lands,  or  nearer  to  us  in  the 
godless  world  that  lies  about  us.  If  you 
wish  the  way  of  life,  if  you  long  for  the 
hope  of  glory,  if  you  are  weary  of  the 
darkness  and  are  yearning  for  the  light, 
come  to  us.  We  have  been  appointed  of 
God  to  direct  wanderers  to  him.  Not 
through  any  merit  or  worthiness  of  our 
own,  but  through  God's  grace  upon  us,  we 
have  been  placed  as  watchmen  to  answer 
the  calls  of  a  needy  world.  Our  message 
is  one  of  hope.  We  can  say  to  everyone 
who  calls  out  of  Seir,  *'The  morning  com- 
eth, ' '  and  though  the  night  also  must  come, 
do  not  lose  hope  nor  faith.  Press  your  en- 
quiries. A  better  day  and  its  fuller  answer 
will  surely  come.  And  so  together  let  us 
watch  and  wait  until  the  day  dawn,  and  the 
daystar  arise  in  our  hearts. 

"Watchman,  tell  us  of  the  night, 

What  its  signs  of  promise  are. 
Trav'ler  o'er  yon  mountain's  height, 

See  that  glory  beaming  star. 


WHAT  OF  THE  NIGHT?         61 

Watchman,  does  its  beauteous  ray 

Aught  of  hope  or  joy  fore-tell? 
Trav'len  yes;  it  brings  the  day, 

Promised  day  of  Israel. 

"Watchman,  tell  us  of  the  night; 

Higher  j'et  that  star  ascends. 
Trav'ler,  blessedness  and  light, 

Peace   and  truth,   its   course   portends. 
Watchman,  will  its  beams  alone 

Gild  the  spot  that  gave  them  birth? 
Trav'ler,  ages  are  its  own; 

See!  it  bursts  o'er  all  the  earth. 

"Watchman,  tell  us  of  the  night. 

For  the  morning  seems  to  dawn. 
Trav'ler,  darkness  takes  its  flight. 

Doubt  and  terror  are  with-drawn. 
Watchman,  let  thy  wand'rings  cease; 

Hie  thee  to  thy  quiet  home. 
Trav'ler,  lo!  the  Prince  of  peace, 

Lo!  the  Son  of  God  is  come." 


m 

THE    PASSING    MATERIAL; 
THE  ENDURING  SPIRITUAL. 


"Lift  up  your  eyes  to  the  heavens,  and  look  upon  the  earth 
beneath;  for  the  heavens  shall  vanish  away  like  smoke,  and 
the  earth  shall  wax  old  like  a  garment;  and  they  that  dwell 
therein  shall  die  in  like  manner:  but  my  salvation  shall  be 
forever,  and  my  righteousness  shall  not  be  abolished."  Isaiah 
51:6. 


GOD 'S  thoughts  are  not  our  thoughts. 
They  are  so  far  above  ours  as  even 
to  seem  to  contradict  them.  Great 
souls  upon  great  heights  sometimes  catch 
the  thoughts  of  God  and  pass  them  down 
to  those  of  us  who  linger  and  aspire  amid 
the  mysteries  of  the  valley.  In  that  won- 
derful poem  Aht  Vogler,  Browning  repre- 
sents the  old  musician,  in  his  meditations 
about  his  music,  as  looking  up  to  the  ful- 
fillment of  music  and  art  and  thought  in 
a  higher  world.  That  which  could  find  no 
perfect  expression  here  should  come  to  its 
fullness  there.  Speaking  of  the  doubts  and 
difficulties  which  men  encounter  in  their 

62 


THE  PASSING  MATERIAL       63 

thoughts  upon  evil,  the  musing  thinker 
says, 

"But  God  has  a  few  of  us  whom  he  whispers  in  the 

ear; 
The  rest  may  reason  and  welcome:  't  is  we  musicians 

know." 

The  visions  and  thoughts  of  great  souls 
in  their  raptures  ofttimes  bring  us  more 
truth  than  the  painful  processes  of  inves- 
tigation and  thought.  Isaiah  was  one  of 
those  great  spirits  to  whom  God  spoke  in 
the  ear,  giving  thoughts  which  transcend 
those  which  busy  themselves  merely  with 
earth  and  time.  In  describing  and  rebuk- 
ing the  evil  of  his  people  in  his  time,  the 
Prophet,  taught  of  God,  looks  to  better  and 
higher  things.  The  lines  of  light  are  shot 
across  the  shado^vy  background  of  present 
and  pressing  trouble.  For  the  righteous 
and  devout  there  is  more  to  do  than  com- 
plain. If  there  are  sad  memories,  there 
are  also  joyous  hopes.  If  the  people  of 
God  must  look  back  to  small  beginnings 
and  many  trials,  they  must  look  forward 
to  great  accomplishments  and  enduring 
joys.  Jehovah  has  comforted  Zion,  and  in 
his  dealings  with  her  has  made  a  place  for 
joy  and  gladness.     So  the  Prophet  calls 


64       THE  PASSING  MATERIAL 

upon  the  people,  and  speaks  for  God  as  he 
seeks  their  attention  to  the  divine  right- 
eousness and  the  deliverance  which  shall 
be  not  for  Israel  only,  but  for  all  the  peo- 
ple. In  this  rapture  of  glowing  thought 
and  hope  occur  the  call  and  promise  of  this 
text. 

It  offers  a  contrast  between  the  material 
and  the  spiritual,  emphasizing  the  thought 
that  the  material  shall  pass  aw^ay  while  the 
spiritual  shall  endure.  The  things  which 
we  see,  and  which  seem  to  us  most  stead- 
fast are  the  very  things  which  shall  pass 
away,  w^hile  those  spiritual  influences,  prin- 
ciples, and  yearnings  which  are  wholly  in- 
visible, always  fitful  and  incomplete,  are 
the  things  that  shall  forever  endure.  The 
glorious  heaven  and  the  solid  seeming 
earth,  with  its  inhabitants  shall  pass  away, 
and  the  restoration  of  the  stricken  soul, 
and  the  establishment  of  moral  goodness 
shall  endure.  This  great  prophetic  thought 
finds  rich  and  emphatic  expression  in  the 
New  Testament.  Jesus  said,  ''Heaven  and 
earth  shall  pass  away,  but  my  words  shall 
not  pass  away."  Paul  reminds  us,  ''The 
things  which  are  seen  are  temporal,  but 
the  things  which  are  not  seen  are  eternal." 


THE  PASSING  MATERIAL       65 

In  the  second  Epistle  of  Peter  we  read  that 
* '  the  heavens  shall  pass  away,  and  the  ele- 
ments shall  melt  with  fervent  heat,  but  we 
look  for  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth, 
wherein  dwelleth  righteousness."  Let  us 
study  the  way  in  which  God,  through  Isa- 
iah, here  gives  expression  to  this  profound 
and  glorious  thought.  He  calls  upon  us  to 
observe  the  heavens  and  the  earth  wdth 
this  thought  in  mind ;  that  these  great,  vis- 
ible realities  shall  pass  away  and  the  in- 
habitants of  the  earth  likewise  shall  die, 
while  on  the  other  hand  the  enduring 
things  shall  be  the  work  of  salvation  and 
the  establishment  of  righteousness.  In 
other  words,  it  is  a  striking  contrast  be- 
tween the  instability  of  material  and  vis- 
ible things  and  the  stability  of  spiritual 
values. 

I.  The  Passing  of  the  Material.  The 
Prophet's  language  is  poetic;  not  scientific, 
in  our  modern  sense.  We  have  no  need  to 
apologize  for  the  want  of  science  in  the 
great  and  spiritual  teachings  of  the  word 
of  God.  Its  very  value  and  permanence 
are  found  in  the  fact  that  the  language  and 
the  thought  of  the  Bible  are  those  of  the 
times  in  which  its  various  books  were  writ- 


66       THE  PASSING  MATERIAL 

ten.  The  eternal  things  which  the  book 
has  to  teach  could  only  get  into  the  thought 
of  its  own  age  by  being  adapted  to  the 
knowledge  and  ideas  of  the  time.  It  is 
wonderful  how,  in  doing  this,  the  great 
writers  of  our  Scriptures  have  yet  suc- 
ceeded in  speaking  to  all  ages,  as  well  as 
to  their  own.  The  science  of  any  age  is 
more  than  half  theory,  which  must  pass. 
But  truth  is  eternal,  and  moral  principles 
are  changeless.  Our  thoughts  in  this  pas- 
sage are  directed  to  things  as  they  seem. 
In  bidding  us  look  to  the  heavens  and  the 
earth  the  Prophet  does  not  teach  us  astron- 
omy or  geology,  either  of  his  own  time  or 
of  ours.  He  only  bids  us  look  with  the  eyes 
of  common  man  upon  the  things  which 
seem  to  be  most  enduring,  in  order  that  we 
may  contrast  these  in  their  decay  with  the 
things  that  really  last.  Naturally  the  glow- 
ing heavens  above  are  put  in  evidence  as 
an  instance  of  the  seemingly  permanent 
that  must  sometime  pass  away.  The  shin- 
ing stars  of  night,  the  glowing  sunshine  by 
day,  the  infinite  blue  expanse  above  and 
around,  all  these  are  the  very  s^onbol  of 
the  constant,  enduring  order  of  the  mighty 
universe.    Is  it  possible  that  these  things 


THE  PASSING  MATERIAL       67 

shall  pass  away?  Is  it  mere  poetic  exag- 
geration to  say  that  these  shall  vanish 
away  like  smoke?  The  best  and  most  dar- 
ing thinking  of  our  modern  times  looks 
back  to  a  time  when  the  visible  heavens 
were  not,  and  afterward  to  far  distant  ages 
when  perhaps  they  shall  be  no  more.  But 
whether  it  be  the  suggestion  of  Biblical 
poetry,  or  the  thought  of  speculative  sci- 
ence, the  passing  of  a  universe  is  a  possi- 
bility of  the  imagination.  Daring  as  it  is, 
the  illustration  is  not  extravagant.  Wheth- 
er literal  or  metaphoric,  the  language  con- 
veys the  great  lesson  intended.  The  uni- 
verse as  we  know  it,  is  subject  to  change 
and  decay. 

Next  our  thought  is  brought  down  to 
earth.  We  speak  of  it  as  the  solid  earth, 
and  a  great  poet  has  made  one  of  his  char- 
acters call  it  "thou  sure  and  firm  set 
earth."  And  so  it  seems  to  us  in  the  ordi- 
nary course  of  things.  Yet  the  deductions 
of  science  bring  the  earth  also  into  the  cate- 
gory of  perishable  things.  And  an  occa- 
sional tremor  here  and  there  reminds  us 
that  our  world  is  not  so  firm  as  it  would 
seem.  Nay  further,  the  poetry  of  the 
passage  challenges  us  to  consider  how  the 


68        THE  PASSING  MATERIAL 

earth  does  wear  away  like  a  garment.  The 
perishable  fabrics  with  which  we  clothe 
ourselves  soon  yield  to  the  wear  of  time, 
and  so  this  ancient  earth  sometime  shall 
show  its  age  and  wear  out.  Such  an  event 
seems  so  distant  as  to  be  impossible,  but 
the  very  strength  of  the  contrast  is  its  em- 
phasis. That  which  seems  to  us  most  en- 
during and  least  likely  to  decay  is  the 
very  thing  brought  into  the  comparison. 
If  anything  can  be  expected  to  stand  the 
shock  of  catastrophe,  or  last  through  the 
ravages  of  time,  it  would  seem  to  be  the 
solid  earth  on  which  we  stand  and  think. 
But  no,  even  this  at  last  shall  yield  and 
somehow  pass  into  something  else. 

The  remaining  element  of  the  compari- 
son is  more  familiar  to  our  experience  and 
thought,  and  does  not  startle  us.  **The  in- 
habitants of  the  earth  shall  die  in  like  man- 
ner." This  is  no  strange  thought  to  us. 
When  it  comes  to  living  things,  especially 
human  beings,  we  more  readily  see  and  ac- 
cept the  truth  as  to  their  perishable  na- 
ture. The  wondrous  revelations  of  geol- 
ogy have  made  us  familiar  mth  many 
forms  of  extinct  life.  Strange  creatures 
that  peopled  this  earth  in  far  gone  epochs 


THE  PASSING  MATERIAL       69 

fill  us  with  wonder.  The  dawn  and  devel- 
opment and  decay  of  life  on  the  earth 
should  remind  us  that  the  present  forms  of 
life  need  not  be  any  more  permanent  than 
those  which  have  passed  away.  The  lan- 
guage, however,  has  in  mind  human  life, 
the  existing  social  order,  the  intercourse 
of  men  with  each  other.  History  and  ob- 
servation show  us  how  these  change  and 
pass.  Generation  has  followed  generation 
until  we  reach  back  to  some  dim  vestiges 
of  prehistoric  man,  and  we  know  beyond 
doubt  that  the  people  of  our  earth  are  a 
passing  show.  Constant  decay  is  the  his- 
tory of  the  human  race.  Of  course  there  is 
equally  constant  renewal  so  far,  but  we 
need  not  be  sure  but  there  shall  be  a  time 
when  renewal  shall  cease,  and  decay  be 
final.  The  story  of  the  passing  throng  is 
the  lesson  we  need  to  lay  to  heart. 

"Swift  to  its  close  ebbs  out  life's  little  day; 
Earth's  joys  grow  dim,  its  glories  pass  away ; 
Change  and  decay  in  all  around  I  see; 
0  Thou  who  ehangest  not,  abide  with  me!" 

II.  The  Permanency  of  the  Spiritual. 
Amid  universal  decay  and  wreck  is  there 
anything  that  shall  stand?  The  best 
thought,  the  firmest  faith  of  mankind  find 


TO       THE  PASSING  MATERIAL 

rest  in  the  conviction  that  behind  the  pass- 
ing tilings  that  we  know  there  is  some  great 
unseen  force,  or  power,  or  being,  that  for- 
ever was  and  forever  will  be.  The  great 
thought  of  God  as  Creator  and  Sovereign 
rises  like  a  mighty  mountain  of  silent,  sol- 
emn, enduring  peace.  The  inspired  poet 
has  laid  hold  of  this  great  truth  and  has 
written  in  fadeless  form  these  consoling 
words:  *'And,  thou.  Lord,  in  the  begin- 
ing  didst  lay  the  foundation  of  the  earth, 
And  the  heavens  are  the  works  of  thy 
hands:  They  shall  perish;  but  thou  con- 
tinuest :  And  they  all  shall  wax  old  as  doth 
a  garment;  And  as  a  mantle  shalt  thou 
roll  them  up,  As  a  garment,  and  they  shall 
be  changed:  But  thou  art  the  same.  And 
thy  years  shall  not  fail." 

The  thought  of  our  o^vn  passage  is  that 
not  only  God,  in  his  own  greatness  and 
glory  abides,  but  that  in  the  work  he  does 
for  and  in  men,  and  in  the  essential  moral 
grandeur  of  his  nature,  he  abides  forever. 
Ajuid  the  change  and  decay  of  all  visible 
things  we  hear  the  voice  of  him  who  says, 
"My  salvation  shall  be  forever,  and  my 
righteousness  shall  not  be  abolished." 

We  need  to  think  upon  these  words  "my 


THE  PASSING  MATERIAL       71 

salvation  shall  be  forever."  The  meaning 
is  not  only  that  God's  power  to  save  men 
shall  stand,  but  that  the  actual  result  of 
his  saving  power  shall  remain.  The  ef- 
fected deliverance  of  men  through  the 
working  of  God's  grace  shall  be  forever 
assured.  It  is  evident  that  the  word  salva- 
tion is  here  used  in  its  higher  spiritual 
sense.  Sometimes  in  the  Old  Testament  it 
refers  to  deliverance  from  danger  and  de- 
struction, but  often  means  the  rescue  of  the 
soul  from  sin  and  its  consequences.  That 
higher  meaning  is  almost  exclusively  that 
of  the  New  Testament,  and  is  doubtless  the 
idea  of  this  passage.  What  God  does  and 
accomplishes  in  the  actual  deliverance  of 
men  from  the  power  and  consequences  of 
sin  is  here  declared  to  be  permanent.  Here 
we  must  take  in  the  great  redemption 
through  Jesus  Christ,  which  has  been  un- 
folded in  the  new  dispensation.  The  proph- 
ets of  the  old  covenant  dimly  foresaw  what 
the  Christians  of  the  new  order  more  fully 
perceived  and  enjoyed.  God's  salvation  in 
the  fullness  of  its  effect  is  embodied  in  the 
cross  of  Christ  and  its  power  as  the  sav- 
ing force  for  mankind.  We  pass  here  the 
doctrinal  aspect  of  the  great  subject  of 


72       THE  PASSING  MATERIAL 

salvation.  May  our  minds  be  full  of  tlie 
thought  itself,  that  God,  in  the  person  and 
sacrifice  of  his  well  beloved  Son,  has  pro- 
vided a  way  of  deliverance  for  mankind 
from  the  blight,  the  defilement,  the  guilt 
and  the  penalty  of  sin.  These  old  familiar 
ideas  are  filled  with  glory  and  joy.  They 
are  the  divine  excellence  of  the  gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ.  In  human  life  and  experi- 
ence they  are  the  reality  and  the  joy  of 
salvation.  In  human  history  the  saving  of 
men  from  sin  through  the  progress  of 
Christian  faith  has  been  the  hope  of  the 
world  and  so  remains.  Amid  all  changes 
God's  love  in  Christ,  saving  men  from  sin, 
abides  a  constant  spiritual  force.  Though 
the  heavens  pass  and  the  earth  be  blotted 
out,  God 's  saving  grace,  working  out  in  the 
lives  and  hearts  of  men,  shall  endure  for- 
ever. This  gospel  has  been  much  neglected, 
ofttimes  dishonored,  alas!  fr-equently  de- 
rided, but  it  abides  the  one  glorious  and 
blessed  power  for  good  in  all  the  changing 
sad  story  of  human  fault  and  decay.  More 
steadfast  than  the  earth  beneath  our  feet, 
more  abiding  than  the  shining  stars  above 
us,  the  saving  love  of  God  in  Christ  per- 
sists amid  the  rise  and  fall  of  empires,  the 


THE  PASSING  MATERIAL       73 

coming  and  going  of  human  generations, 
as  the  fadeless  hope  and  inspiring  comfort 
of  human  souls. 

It  is  not  only  the  spiritual  deliverance 
from  sin  as  an  effect  of  the  cross,  but  also 
the  moral  change  eifected  therein  which 
abides  forevermore.  The  word  is,  '*My 
righteousness  shall  not  be  abolished. "  We 
do  well  to  interpret  righteousness  here  in 
a  broad  sense.  It  is  not  specifically  the 
personal  righteousness  of  God,  but  rather 
the  righteousness  which  he  enjoins  upon 
men  and  works  out  in  them  as  the  effect  of 
his  redeeming  grace.  It  is  the  moral  char- 
acter of  mankind,  as  accomplished  and  as- 
sured and  active  in  man,  the  result  and  ex- 
pression of  his  salvation.  This  idea  of 
righteousness,  like  that  of  salvation  itself, 
is  more  fully  brought  out  and  explained  in 
the  New  Testament,  but  it  is  by  no  means 
foreign  to  the  conceptions  and  expressions 
of  the  Old  Testament  writers.  Looking  at 
the  matter  from  the  individual  point  of 
view  we  can  say  that  the  saved  soul — per- 
sonality and  consciousness — persists  in  its 
righteousness.  The  purified,  self-conscious 
struggle  on  through  life,  amid  temptations, 
defeats,  and  failures,  until  it  becomes  the 


74       THE  PASSING  IVIATERIAL 

perfection  of  human  goodness  allied  with 
the  thought  and  hope  of  immortality,  is 
suggested.  The  great  doctrine  of  immor- 
tality, as  taught  in  the  gospel,  carries  with 
it  the  thought  of  the  perfect  soul  living  for- 
ever. No  imagination  nor  faith  can  be  so 
thrilling  as  this.  To  live,  and  to  live  right, 
and  to  live  forever.  This  is  the  supreme 
human  ideal.  To  have  perfected  within 
us  the  divine  plan  by  the  divine  power,  to 
realize  in  an  endless  state  of  being  the  full 
ideal  of  God's  own  idea  of  human  purity 
and  perfection  is  the  glorious  hope  held  out 
to  us,  at  least  by  suggestion,  in  the  endur- 
ing righteousness  of  God  in  man. 

And  still  a  wider  view  is  brought  to  our 
thought  in  the  passage  already  quoted 
from  the  second  Epistle  of  Peter.  '^We 
look  for  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth, 
wherein  dwelleth  righteousness."  A  so- 
cial order  in  which  the  righteousness  of 
God  shall  be  the  outstanding  and  victorious 
fact  is  here  held  out  to  us.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  all  through  the  tragic  story  of  Israel's 
failure,  and  even  through  the  centuries  of 
Christian  struggle,  the  divine  idea  of  right- 
eousness has  been  moving.  Somehow  it 
has  never  passed  out  from  the  minds  and 


THE  PASSING  MATERIAL       75 

hearts  of  men.  The  sad  pages  which  de- 
scribe human  failure  have  been  lit  with  the 
light  of  human  triumph  over  the  evil.  The 
deathless  yearning  of  mankind  for  right- 
eousness in  heart  and  home  and  community- 
is  written  indelibly  upon  the  story  of 
human  progress.  The  beckoning  hand  of 
God  has  been  summoning  through  the  ages 
to  a  higher  reach  and  a  firmer  settlement 
of  his  righteousness  in  the  hearts  and  the 
institutions  of  men.  The  very  persistence 
of  this  idea  of  righteousness  through  so 
many  drawbacks,  disappointments  and  de- 
feats carries  with  it  its  own  hope  of  ul- 
timate triumph.  The  Christian  heart  hope- 
fully embraces  this  glorious  prospect  and 
refuses  to  yield  to  despondency  and  de- 
spair.   It  sings  with  Faber: 

"For  right  is  right  since  God  is  God, 

And  right  the  day  must  win; 
To  doubt  would  be  disloyalty, 

To  falter  would  be  sin." 

When  the  supreme  effort  of  the  human 
spirit,  both  in  its  personal  and  in  its  social 
life,  shall  reach  the  beautiful  plan  of  God, 
and  shall  last  in  that  attainment  through 
all  eternity,  the  fullness  of  promise  con- 


76        THE  PASSING   MATERIAL 

tainod  in  this  passage,  and  others  like  it, 
shall  be  found. 

"Therefore  to  whom  turn  I  but  to  thee,  the  ineffable 
Name? 
Builder  and  maker,  thou,  of  houses  not  made  with 
hands ! 
What,  have  fear  of  change  from  thee  who  art  ever 
the  same? 
Doubt  that  thy  power  can  fill  the  heart  that  thy 
power  expands? 
There  shall  never  be  one  lost  good!   What  was,  shall 
live  as  before; 
The  evil  is  null,  is  naught,  is  silence  implying  sound ; 
What  was  good  shall  be  good,  with,  for  evil,  so  much 
good  more; 
On  the  earth  the  broken  arcs;  in  the  heaven  a  per- 
fect round." 


IV 
GOD  AND  HIS  PEOPLE. 


"The  Lord   of  hosts  is  with  us;   the  God   of  Jacob   is  oar 
refuge."     Ps.  46:7. 


GOD  has  always  had  his  people  in  the 
world.  In  the  accounts  of  Scrip- 
ture this  great  fact  stands  out 
prominent  and  distinct.  During  those  ob- 
scure times  before  the  Flood  the  record 
speaks  of  ''the  sons  of  God"  as  distin- 
guished from  others.  The  story  of  Noah 
and  the  preservation  of  him  and  his  fam- 
ily teaches  the  same  great  truth.  Later, 
the  call  of  Abraham,  and  the  blessings 
which  came  to  his  descendants  confirm  this 
teaching.  Psalmists  and  prophets  through 
Israel's  later  history  present  in  many 
forms  and  figures  the  touch  of  God  with 
his  own.  The  coming  of  our  Lord  and 
Saviour,  and  his  proclamation  of  the  king- 
dom of  God,  and  his  founding  of  the  church 
of  the  living  God,  present  the  New  Testa- 
ment phase  of  this  great  and  glorious 

77 


78  GOD  AND  HIS  PEOPLE 

truth.  The  history  of  Christianity  through 
all  the  ages  shows  how  in  many  parts,  iji 
many  races,  and  to  thousands  of  indivi- 
duals the  realness  of  God  in  his  relation  to 
his  o^vn  has  been  manifested. 

The  dealings  of  God  with  his  people  in 
any  one  age  and  time  are  instructive  and 
encouraging  to  those  who  believe  in  God 
through  all  ages  and  times.  In  this  great 
psalm  the  nearness  of  God  to  his  oavti  in 
times  of  trouble  and  distress  is  devoutly 
and  vividly  set  forth.  These  words  have 
spoken  to  the  hearts  of  God's  people  in 
times  of  trial  through  all  the  centuries. 
They  lose  none  of  their  freshness  and  force 
in  the  message  they  bring  to  us  in  the  great 
epoch  of  the  world's  history  in  which  Wt3 
live  and  act.  The  great  questions  for  our 
day,  and  for  all  days  are:  Is  God  real?  Is 
God  accessible?  Has  he  ever  unmistakably 
made  himself  known  to  men?  Has  anybody 
truly  found  him?  To  these  questions  the 
experience  of  the  faithful  has  in  thousands 
of  ways  expressed  the  great  affirmative  an- 
swer. No  expression  of  the  answer  can  sur- 
pass in  grandeur  and  in  simplicity  the  de- 
vout utterance  of  this  text.  We  notice  that 
its  two  members,  after  the  manner  of  the 


GOD  AND  HIS  PEOPLE  79 

Hebrew  poetry,  present  the  same  great 
thought,  from  different  points  of  view  and 
in  varying  language.  The  assured  convic- 
tion that  God  is,  and  that  he  is  the  re- 
warder  of  those  who  diligently  seek  him, 
in  these  words  reaches  a  calm  of  confidence 
and  a  joy  of  hopefulness  which  cannot  be 
surpassed.  An  analysis  and  minute  study 
of  the  text  may  serve  to  freshen  and  em- 
phasize the  blessed  truth  which  it  brings. 
The  two  members  of  the  verse  bring  to  us 
the  reality  of  God's  relation  to  his  people, 
first,  under  the  aspect  of  God's  grandeur 
and  greatness ;  and  secondly,  under  that  of 
his  condescension,  his  willingness  to  come 
into  personal  touch  with  individuals.  In 
each  clause  God  is  named  by  the  title  ex- 
pressive of  one  of  these  two  thoughts ;  and 
in  each  a  profound  statement  asserts  the 
reality  of  God  to  his  people.  Let  us  study 
in  detail  the  noble  words  which  bring  us 
this  great  truth. 

I.  The  Lord  of  Hosts  is  With  Us. 

1.  The  Title.  In  Scripture  God  is  revealed 
by  his  titles  as  well  as  by  doctrinial  state- 
ments concerning  his  nature,  or  by  de- 
scriptions of  his  acts.    No  title  can  give  us 


80  GOD  AND  HIS  PEOPLE 

a  higher  concoption  of  the  power  and  glory 
of  God  than  this  which  we  so  often  meet, 
*  *  The  Lord  of  Hosts. ' '  Bible  readers  know 
well  that  when  in  the  English  version  ''The 
Lord"  is  written,  the  name  of  the  Lord  is 
printed  in  small  capitals.  It  stands  for  the 
name  Jehovah.  Bible  students  also  know 
well  that  this  is  not  the  correct  writing  of 
that  great  name.  The  ancient  Hebrew  was 
written  without  vowels,  and  this  name  of 
God  stands  in  the  Hebrew  manuscripts 
only  with  its  four  consonants  JHVH. 
These  came  to  be  called,  The  Holy  Four 
Letters.  The  vowels  belonging  to  them 
were  lost  because  through  reverence  the 
Jewish  teachers  of  the  law  never  pro- 
nounced the  name,  but  in  reading  or  repeat- 
ing always  used  another  word,  "Adonai,'* 
' '  Lord. ' '  In  order  to  insure  that  this  name 
would  be  pronounced  instead  of  the  other, 
they  gave  the  vowels  belonging  to  that. 
Modern  scholars  who  have  not  accepted  the 
scrupulous  reverence  of  the  old  Hebrew 
teachers  have  not  been  able  to  agree  upon 
the  reconstruction  and  right  pronunciation 
of  the  word.  Many  take  Yahweh  as  the 
most  probable  writing  of  the  name,  but  for 
us  Jehovah  has  come  to  be  accepted,  and  we 


GOD  AND  HIS  PEOPLE  81 

understand  that  it  is  the  great  name  of  the 
God  of  Israel.  The  meaning  of  this  name, 
and  the  thought  which  it  brings  are  of  more 
importance  to  us  than  its  form.  It  is  gen- 
erally agreed  to  be  expressive  of  the  self- 
existence  of  God.  In  support  of  this  view 
reference  is  made  to  God's  revelation  of 
himself  to  Moses  at  the  burning  bush. 
When  Moses  demurred  against  accepting 
the  divine  mission  to  Egypt,  and  asked 
what  he  should  call  God,  the  answer  came, 
''I  AM  THAT  I  AM."  The  name  Jeho- 
vah is  thus  associated  with  the  word  for 
being.  It  is  equivalent  to  saying  ''God  is." 
He  was  not  born,  he  was  not  brought  into 
existence,  he  was  not  made,  he  did  not  in 
any  way  come  into  being  or  begin  to  exist. 
He  simply  is.  This  great  conception  of 
God  is  the  starting  point  at  once  for  phi- 
losophy and  for  religion.  The  intellect 
takes  refuge  in  a  personal  self-existence 
and  the  longing  soul  finds  comfort  in  a 
being  so  defined.  In  this  name  of  God  we 
find  the  ultimate  origin,  the  starting  point 
for  life  and  thought.  It  thus  brings  to  us 
the  great  Force,  the  great  reality  that  lies 
back  of  all  things. 
The  lonely  grandeur  of  such  a  being  as 


82         GOD  AND  HIS  PEOPLE 

Jehovah  is  offset  by  the  rest  of  the  desig- 
nation when  he  is  called  Jehovah  of  hosts. 
Alone  and  unique  he  is  and  ever  must  be 
in  the  essence  of  his  being,  but  he  is  not 
without  companions  and  associates.  The 
hosts  or  armies  intended  in  this  descrip- 
tion are  doubtless  meant  to  include  all  the 
intelligent  and  spiritual  beings  who  obey 
Jehovah  and  execute  his  mil.  The  declara- 
tions of  Scripture  are  clear  as  to  the  gen- 
eral fact  that  there  are  such  beings,  and 
some  glimpses  of  their  nature  and  work  are 
afforded  us.  Much  is  left  to  imagination, 
and  if  we  are  careful  to  distinguish  what 
we  imagine,  or  what  others  have  imagined, 
from  what  is  actually  revealed  in  the  word, 
it  may  not  be  amiss  for  us  to  think  of  that 
great  multitude  of  pure  and  mighty  and 
happy  beings  who  surround,  accompany, 
obey  and  worship  the  Lord  God  Almighty. 
He  is  the  sovereign  and  center  of  all  forces 
and  powers  who  understand  and  execute 
his  will.  Prophets  and  poets  and  devout 
thinkers  of  every  age  have  revelled  in  the 
holy  imagination  of  all  these  glorious  spir- 
itual orders  and  ranks  who  acknowledge 
the  sway  of  Jehovah.  To  the  ancient  ori- 
ental mind  more  vividly  than  to  our  own, 


GOD  AND  HIS  PEOPLE         83 

the  imagination  of  a  sovereign,  in  his  splen- 
dor, vnth.  thousands  of  living  subjects  joy- 
fully hastening  to  fulfill  his  high  behests 
makes  appeal.  This  is  the  figure  of  our 
text,  a  glorious  king  at  the  head  of  his 
armies. 

2.  The  Statement.  How  simple  it  is.  *  'Je- 
hovah of  hosts  is  mth  us."  Two  thoughts 
are  involved  in  this  simple  yet  profound 
statement.  He  is  with  us  as  a  reassuring 
and  sustaining  presence.  It  is  not  by  sight 
or  touch,  but  in  the  spiritual  manifesta- 
tion of  himself  and  the  answering  spirit  of 
man.  God  is  with  his  people  externally  in 
his  word,  in  his  church,  in  his  works.  The 
sense  of  the  divine  presence  as  Jehovah 
of  hosts  is  made  vivid  to  the  faith  and  im- 
agination of  his  people  in  their  moments  of 
high  and  devout  worship,  of  holy  ecstasy, 
of  rapt  and  prayerful  meditation.  It  is  to 
be  feared  that  we  do  not  rise  to  our  privi- 
lege here,  and  use  our  regulated  imagina- 
tion in  the  endeavor  to  make  real  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Lord.  The  wonder  and  awe, 
the  rapture  and  joy  of  realizing  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Sovereign  of  the  universe  can 
never  be  expressed.  Not  all  believers  have 
been  able  to  rise  to  this  height,  but  some- 


84  GOD  AND  HIS  PEOPLE 

times  to  the  commonest  of  us  some 
glimpses  of  this  ghory  may  be  granted 
while  we  pray  and  think. 

The  other  great  thought  wrapped  up  in 
the  simple  statement  is  that  God  is  on  our 
side.  He  is  with  us  in  our  struggle.  This 
perhaps  was  what  the  inspired  poet  had 
chiefly  in  his  mind.  God's  people  are  ar- 
rayed against  evil.  The  forms  and  forces 
of  evil  are  countless  and  malignant.  Some- 
times they  seem  unconquerable.  Sin  within 
the  soul,  and  sin  abroad  in  the  earth ;  sin  in 
the  individual  and  sin  in  the  multitude; 
this  is  our  enemy.  Who  can  estimate  the 
number  and  the  might  of  the  forces  of  evil? 
Those  who  struggle  against  them  are  often 
downhearted.  They  feel  discouraged,  over- 
whelmed, undone.  And  when  we  think  how 
many  there  are  to  do  wrong,  and  how  few 
there  seem  to  be  to  do  right,  our  hearts 
grow  faint  and  our  souls  are  w^eary  with 
the  long  campaign.  Sometimes  it  looks  as 
if  a  handful  are  struggling  all  in  vain  to 
keep  righteousness  in  the  earth  and  hope 
alive  in  the  human  breast.  So  many  times 
the  church  militant  has  been  defeated,  am- 
bushed, borne  down  by  superior  forces, 
driven  into  captivity  in  the  wilderness  in 


GOD  AND  HIS  PEOPLE  85 

disarray,  confusion  and  panic.  It  is  for 
these  this  mighty  word  is  spoken,  ''The 
Lord  of  hosts  is  with  us."  The  Almighty 
and  Eternal  one  who  cannot  die,  with  his 
countless  armies  of  might  and  power,  is  on 
our  side.  The  end  of  our  warfare  may  not 
yet  be  near.  The  final  triumph  may  yet 
linger  through  the  years.  Crushing  de- 
feats for  some  battalions  here  and  there 
may  yet  be  the  mournful  experience  of 
God's  struggling  church.  But  his  people, 
in  their  age-long  and  not  yet  ended  conflict 
should  hear  this  reassuring  word  that  has 
rung  out  for  the  cheer  and  comfort  of 
God's  people  above  many  a  hard  fought 
battle,  "Jehovah  of  hosts  is  with  us." 

At  the  battle  of  Crecy  we  are  told  the 
forces  under  the  Black  Prince  were  terribly 
pressed  by  a  charge  of  the  French  cavalry, 
and  some  of  the  prince's  officers,  taking 
alarm,  speeded  to  the  king  with  the  mes- 
sage that  his  son  was  hard  pressed,  and 
begged  for  his  assistance.  The  king  asked, 
*'Is  my  son  dead,  or  so  wounded  that  he 
can  no  longer  fight?"  ''No,"  was  the  reply, 
"But  he  needs  your  help."  "Return,"  the 
king  replied,  "to  those  that  sent  you,  and 
tell  them  not  to  send  to  me  as  long  as  my 


86  GOD  AND  HIS  PEOPLE 

son  lives.  I  command  them  to  let  the  youth 
win  his  spurs."  Upon  that  the  forces  of 
the  prince  charged  again  and  a  great  vic- 
tory was  won.  The  presence  of  the  king 
and  his  reserve  forces  gave  courage  to 
those  who  fought  the  fight.  Even  so  we 
may  not  understand  why  our  King  does 
not  come,  but  he  is  on  our  side,  and  his 
armies  are  under  his  command.  The  fight 
is  on,  the  triumph  awaits  those  who  trust 
and  take  courage  from  the  presence  of  * '  the 
Lord  of  hosts." 

11.     The  God  of  Jacob  is  our  Refuge. 

1.  The  Title.  The  change  from  **  Jehovah 
of  hosts"  to  "the  God  of  Jacob"  is  signifi- 
cant. It  brings  us  from  the  height  of 
heaven  and  its  glory  to  the  depth  of  earth 
and  its  need.  It  is  a  wonderful  thing  that 
the  same  great  being  who  is  known  as  "Je- 
hovah of  hosts"  is  equally  well  known  as 
"the  God  of  Jacob."  The  one  view  pre- 
sents him  in  his  almightiness,  the  other  in 
his  approachableness.  The  King  of  celes- 
tial armies  is  the  God  who  is  nigh  to  a 
needy  man.  There  is  no  contradiction 
here.  It  is  only  two  views  of  the  same 
God.    If  we  did  not  have  this  conception 


GOD  AND  HIS  PEOPLE         87 

of  God  to  balance  the  other  we  should  think 
of  him  as  far  out  of  our  reach ;  as  removed 
in  his  lofty  splendor  from  any  approach  of 
ourselves.  But  happily  for  us,  in  the  very 
same  stanza  of  this  great  poem  both  these 
thoughts  are  presented  and  put  together. 
It  is  marvelous  that  "Jehovah  of  hosts" 
should  also  be  "the  God  of  Jacob."  Who 
was  Jacob,  and  what  was  his  history!  He 
was  a  man,  an  average  man,  a  weak  and 
sinful  man.  He  was  not  an  Enoch,  who 
walked  with  God  and  was  too  good  for 
earth.  He  was  not  an  Abraham,  the  father 
of  the  faithful,  and  the  friend  of  God.  He 
was  not  even  an  Isaac,  gentle,  pure,  medi- 
tative and  devout.  No,  he  was  Jacob,  the 
supplanter,  whose  very  name  was  a  badge 
of  disgrace.  He  was  a  liar  and  a  cheat. 
He  was  one  who  defrauded  his  brother  and 
then  ran  away  from  just,  though  vindictive, 
anger.  He  was  a  poor,  fallible,  unworthy, 
sinful  man.  And  God  lets  himself  be 
called  "the  God  of  Jacob."  If  he  was 
Jacob's  God  he  can  be  mine.  If  he  was 
not  ashamed  to  let  himself  be  known  as 
belonging  to  Jacob,  he  cannot  disown  even 
me.  I  need  not  confess  to  Jacob's  sins,  but 
I  must  needs  confess  my  own.    I  may  not 


88         GOD  AND  HIS  PEOPLE 

be  a  cheat  or  a  coward,  but  in  my  own  way 
I  am  a  sinner  like  Jacob.  If  God  could  be 
Jacob's  God  he  can  be  my  God.  I  am  not 
far  off,  if  at  all,  out  of  Jacob's  class.  "Je- 
hovah of  hosts"  can  come  down  to  even 
such  a  one  as  Jacob,  and  tliat  means  me. 

Nay,  more  than  this.  Jacob  was  not  only 
an  average  sinful  man,  but  he  was  a  man  in 
trouble  and  need.  There  is  evidence  that 
he  felt  his  sin.  There  is  token  of  one  who 
earnestly  sought  forgiveness  both  of  his 
brother  and  of  his  God.  Certainly  in  his 
loneliness  and  exile,  accompanied  by  his 
crushing  consciousness  of  wrong-doing,  he 
was  a  man  in  sore  straits,  and  needy, — Oh, 
so  deeply  needy, — of  divine  help  and 
strength.  To  such  a  man  God  comes.  We 
think  of  that  wondrous  vision  when  Jacob 
was  alone  in  the  wilderness,  weary  with 
his  journey,  his  head  resting  upon  a  stone 
for  a  pillow.  But  the  ladder  reached  unto 
God,  and  bright  messengers  passed  up  and 
down  to  tell  him  of  God,  whose  voice  was 
borne  to  him  with  a  promise.  **The  God  of 
Jacob"  is  a  God  who  helps  and  reassures 
the  needy  sinner  at  his  place  of  deepest 
need. 

Again  we  think  of  Jacob  as  he  wrestled 


GOD  AND  HIS  PEOPLE  89 

with  God  at  the  Brook  of  Jabbo"k.  Here 
was,  if  possible,  a  yet  sorer  trial.  The  fear 
he  felt  now  was  not  for  himself  alone,  but 
for  his  family  and  dependants.  The  sug- 
gestive story  of  that  night-long  struggle 
has  engaged  the  devout  interest  of  believ- 
ers in  all  ages.  **The  God  of  Jacob"  is  a 
God  who  lets  a  man  wrestle  with  him  in 
prayer  and  though  he  may  delay  the  an- 
swer and  smite  the  penitent  as  a  reminder 
of  his  weakness,  the  prayer  is  heard  and 
answered.  **The  God  of  Jacob"  is  a 
prayer-hearing  God,  and  that  is  the  God 
whom  we  need. 

Once  more  we  think  of  the  aged  patri- 
arch, when,  after  long  years  of  experience 
with  God,  he  recounts  his  own  sins  and  the 
unfailing  mercies  of  God  to  him.  And  he 
declares  that  none  of  the  things  which  God 
had  promised  him  had  ever  failed.  Ad- 
mitting his  unworthiness,  and  deploring  it, 
he  rejoices  in  God  as  one  who  kept  his 
covenant.  Yes,  **the  God  of  Jacob"  is  a 
promise-keeping  God,  and  that  is  the  God 
we  need.  Paul  tells  us  in  a  great  passage 
of  his  writings  that  **all  the  promises  of 
God  are  Yea  and  Amen  in  Christ  Jesus.*' 
God,  in  later  days,  sent  his  Son  into  the 


00         GOD  AND  HIS  PEOPLE 

world  to  renew  the  promises  made  unto 
the  fathers,  and  to  fulfill  them  in  part,  and 
to  remain  the  final  and  perfect  pledge  of 
all  God's  gracious  words  of  promise  to 
mankind. 

2.  The  State^nent.  "The  God  of  Jacob  is 
our  refuge."  This  sin-forgiving,  prayer- 
hearing,  promise-keeping  God,  this  God  of 
Jacob,  is  our  refuge.  What  is  a  refuge?  A 
place  to  run  into  and  be  safe ;  a  place  easy 
to  reach,  and  strong  to  protect;  a  place 
where  weariness  is  relieved,  and  wounds 
are  cured,  and  enemies  are  defied.  God  in 
Christ  is  our  refuge  in  temptation;  when 
the  forces  of  evil  from  within  and  without 
come  not  in  mighty  array,  but  in  subtle 
suggestion;  where  the  scene  of  conflict  is 
not  the  great  field  of  the  world  but  the  un- 
seen recesses  of  the  tried  and  lonely  soul. 
He  who  permitted  Jacob  to  wrestle  with 
him  welcomes  us  to  a  similar  test  of  his 
willingness  to  help.  God  in  his  Holy  Spirit, 
the  Comforter,  is  our  refuge  in  sorrow  and 
trial.  When  afflictions  sore  and  heavj^  be- 
fall us  and  all  our  comforts  flee,  we  shall 
find  in  our  thoughts  of  him,  in  our  ap- 
proach to  him,  that  peace  and  strength 
which  cannot  be  found  elsewhere,  in  our 


GOD  AND  HIS  PEOPLE         91 

sincere  prayers  "the  peace  of  God  which 
passeth  all  understanding"  may  guard  our 
minds  in  Christ  Jesus. 

And  last  of  all,  in  view  of  life's  threat- 
ened and  speedy  close,  in  view  of  our  cer- 
tain departure  sometime  from  this  earth, 
in  view  of  that  last  struggle  that  awaits  us 
all,  that  mystery  of  an  ended  life  and  an 
unknown  beyond,  may  "the  God  of  Jacob" 
be  our  refuge.  No  word  but  his  has  come 
from  the  great  gloom  out  yonder.  No  hand 
but  his  has  been  reached  across  the  great 
fixed  gulf  of  death.  No  light  but  his  shines 
on  that  dark  and  lonely  pathway  where 
the  soul  must  go  to  meet  its  destiny.  But 
the  God  of  Jacob  is  our  refuge  in  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord.  He  hath  abolished  death, 
and  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light 
through  the  gospel. 

A  refuge,  of  course,  implies  one  who 
seeks  it.  The  thought  of  a  refuge  is  but 
half  a  thought  until  it  is  sought  and  found. 
A  Saviour  would  be  only  a  potential  Sav- 
iour unless  sinners  sought  and  found  him. 
"The  God  of  Jacob"  would  be  but  a  nom- 
inal refuge  unless  poor  souls,  like  Jacob, 
ran  to  him  for  protection  and  help.  Surely 
our  sense  of  need,  our  kinship  with  Jacob 


92         GOD  AND  HIS  PEOPLE 

in  his  human  weakness  should  lead  us  to 
seek  the  refuge  which  he  found,  and  rise 
from  our  individual  needs  and  cares  to 
those  of  all  the  church  universal  and  of  all 
the  human  race.  In  the  mighty  conflict 
with  sin  we  should  lift  our  hearts  and 
thoughts  to  confidence  and  hope  when  we 
remember  that  "Jehovah  of  hosts  is  with 
us."  For  each  and  for  all  this  glorious 
word  of  promise  abides.  May  it  comfort 
our  hearts  and  strengthen  our  minds  as  we 
think  upon  it. 


THE  SUEE  PROMISES  OF  GOD. 

'Tor  how  many  soever  be  the  promises  of  God,  in  Him  is 
the  yea;  wherefore  also  through  Him  is  the  Amen,  unto  the 
glory  of  God  through  us."     2  Cor.  1:20. 

THE  very  interesting  and  somewhat 
difficult  passage  of  which  this  text 
forms  a  part  affords  us  one  among 
many  examples  of  how  human  conduct  il- 
lustrates by  contrast  the  dealings  of  God 
with  men.  The  point  at  issue  between  Paul 
and  his  critics  is  whether  the  apostle  has 
been  false  and  fickle  in  regard  to  his  prom- 
ises. In  repelling  the  charge  and  justify- 
ing his  change  of  purpose  he  declares  that 
his  character  and  conduct  as  a  preacher  of 
the  truth  of  God,  and  the  effect  of  the 
preaching  of  himself  and  his  colleagues, 
were  such  as  to  be  out  of  harmony  with 
the  accusation  of  his  enemies.  He  was  not 
a  man  of  selfish  aims  and  fickle  purposes, 
and  as  a  preacher  of  the  truth  in  Jesus 
Christ  he  did  not  deal  in  wavering  un- 

93 


94       THE  SURE  PROMISES  OF  GOD 

realities  but  in  steadfast  verities.  He  was 
not  a  *'yea  and  nay"  man,  saying  yes  and 
meaning  no;  or  saying  yes  and  no  in  the 
same  breath.  The  gospel  he  preached  was 
not  a  "yea  and  nay"  gospel,  but  was  a 
grand  ''yea" — a  firm  and  steadfast  affirm- 
ation of  divine  blessing  in  Christ.  For  in 
fact  no  matter  how  many  are  the  promises 
of  God  they  are  all  *'yea"  in  Christ.  He 
is  the  divine  pledge  of  their  fulfillment. 
Moreover  it  is  through  Christ  that  our  own 
hearts  are  enabled  to  say  the  "amen"  to 
those  promises  as  they  are  fulfilled.  Christ 
is  from  God's  side  a  pledge,  and  on  our 
side  an  assurance  of  all  God's  promises. 
This  is  the  rich  meaning  of  the  text.  All 
the  promises  of  God  are  confirmed  to  us 
in  Christ. 

I.  Multitude  of  the  Promises.  Sugges- 
tively does  the  expression  "how  many  so- 
ever" indicate  the  richness  and  variety  of 
the  divine  promises.  It  is  incidental  to  the 
main  thought,  but  is  clearly  involved.  The 
statement  is  without  qualification  or  excep- 
tion— "as  many  as  there  are."  No  one 
who  attentively  reads  the  Bible  can  fail  to 
observe  what  a  large  share  of  its  sacred 
pages  is  devoted  to  the  promises  of  God. 


THE  SURE  PROMISES  OF  GOD       95 

The  general  character  of  the  divine  prom- 
ises is  described  for  ns  in  2  Peter  1 : 4, 
where  they  are  called  the  *  *  exceeding  great 
and  precious  promises,"  and  in  the  con- 
text their  quality  and  purpose  are  further 
made  known.  One  would  have  to  search 
the  Scriptures  through  to  gather  in  any 
catalogue  these  wonderful  and  glorious 
promises  of  God  to  men.  It  would  be  far 
from  our  present  purpose  to  attempt  such 
a  list  and  classification,  but  it  may  not  be 
amiss  to  suggest  some  of  the  groupings 
under  which  the  promises  might  be  gath- 
ered. They  take  a  very  wide  range  from 
those  given  to  individuals  out  to  those 
which  include  the  whole  race  of  mankind. 
If  we  think  of  special  classes  of  weak  and 
suffering  men  who  are  helped  and  cheered 
by  the  promises  of  God,  we  shall  find  that 
they  come  to  childhood  and  old  age,  as  well 
as  to  the  burdened  and  tempted,  who  strive 
with  life's  problems  and  troubles  between 
its  extremes.  There  are  promises  to  the 
tempted  that  they  will  be  sustained,  or  that 
the  way  to  escape  shall  be  found.  There 
are  promises  to  the  weak,  who  may  take 
refuge  in  the  divine  strength,  which  is 
made   perfect   in   weakness.     There   are 


96       THE  SURE  PROMISES  OF  GOD 

promises  to  those  who  seek  after  God  that 
if  with  all  their  hearts  thej^  truly  seek  Him 
they  shall  not  seek  in  vain.     Those  who, 
through  conscious  weakness  and  many  fail- 
ures   strive    to    practice    godliness,    are 
pointed  to  the  victory  that  God's  grace  vnll 
gain   in   and   through   them.     And   there 
comes    to   those    who   persevere    through 
every  kind  of  trial,  even  unto  death  itself, 
the  gracious  reassurance  of  the  crouTi  of 
life.    The  heavy  laden  are  invited  to  lose 
their  burdens  in  the  presence  of  the  com- 
forting Christ.    The  sick  and  sad  are  told 
of   the    everlasting   love    that   makes    all 
things  work  together  for  good  to  those  who 
love  God.     To  all  mankind  at  large  the 
fadeless     hope     of     eternal     redemption 
through  Jesus  Christ  is  stretched  out  with 
loving  invitation  and  constraining  counsel. 
To  the  Redeemer  Himself,  as  the  leader 
and  representative  of  his  redeemed,  the 
promise  of  ultimate  victory  is  assured.  In 
the  second  Psalm  the  Messiah  is  bidden, 
"Ask  of  me,  and  I   shall  give  thee  the 
heathen  for  thine  inheritance  and  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth  for  thy  posses- 
sion." 
A  brief  survey  like  this  can  but  touch  the 


THE  SURE  PROMISES  OF  GOD       97 

border  of  the  great  and  glorious  plentitude 
of  the  promises  of  God.  We  can  thus 
choose  only  a  few  illustrative  examples 
from  the  infinite  range,  and  boundless 
variety,  and  the  numberless  multitude  of 
the  divine  promises.  Suited  are  they  to 
every  care,  every  need,  every  man,  woman 
and  child  in  all  the  world  in  all  time.  They 
tell  of  good  on  earth,  and  of  the  unspeak- 
able glories  of  the  life  to  come.  Yet  are 
they  in  nowise  too  many  or  too  great  for 
God  to  make  and  keep.  He  has  not  over- 
taxed Himself  to  give  these  promises,  nor 
are  they  beyond  the  easy  sweep  of  His 
power  to  fulfill.  But  for  our  sake  he  has 
given  sure  and  strong  confirmation,  that 
even  in  the  stumbling  weakness  of  our  half- 
faith  **we  might  have  strong  consolation 
who  have  fled  for  refuge  to  lay  hold  on  the 
hope  set  before  us.*' 

II.  The  Pledge  of  the  Promises.  In  His 
goodness  and  mercy  God  often  adds  a 
pledge,  a  seal,  a  confirmation,  even  to  His 
own  word.  In  a  very  striking  and  beauti- 
ful way  is  this  confirmation  added  in  the 
present  instance.  All  the  promises  of  God, 
no  matter  how  many  they  may  be,  are  con- 
firmed to  us  in  Christ.    He  is  the  unique 


98       THE   SURE  PROMISES  OF  GOD 

and  exalted  pledge  of  every  fulfillment.  In 
Him,  on  God's  side,  is  the  *'yea."  He  is 
the  perfect  and  divine  affirmation,  added  to 
all  the  promises  of  His  Father.  This  does 
not  mean  that  anything  was  needed  to  bind 
God  to  the  fulfillment  of  his  gracious  prom- 
ises to  men,  or  that  any  pledge  can  make 
them  more  sure  than  His  simple  word,  but 
it  means  that  in  fact,  the  coming  and  char- 
acter and  work  of  Christ  do  make,  for  all 
who  receive  Him,  the  strongest  possible 
pledge  of  God's  faith  in  all  His  promises 
of  blessing  to  mankind. 

We  might  say  that,  logically,  Christ  con- 
stitutes this  pledge.  He  is  the  Son  of  God, 
and  the  great  fact  that  He  comes  as  the 
highest  gift  of  God  to  man  includes  every 
smaller  gift.  ' '  He  that  spared  not  His  own 
Son,  but  delivered  Him  up  for  us  all,  how 
shall  He  not  with  Him  also  freely  give  us 
all  things."  His  advent  was  a  promise, 
and  became  a  fulfillment,  and  so  He  car- 
ries in  Himself  the  pledge  of  final  and  com- 
plete fulfillment  of  all  the  manifold  prom- 
ises of  God. 

Looking  at  the  matter  from  a  slightly 
different  point  of  view,  we  may  further 
say  that  Christ  is  historically  and  actually 


THE  SURE  PROMISES  OF  GOD       99 

a  pledge  of  the  promises  of  God.  His  ap- 
pearance on  earth,  His  beautiful  life,  the 
character  He  displayed,  the  work  He  did, 
the  gracious  words  that  He  spoke,  the 
crowning  self-sacrifice  on  Calvary,  the 
glorious  resurrection  from  the  dead,  all 
join  to  give  token  of  God's  powerful  pres- 
ence and  reassuring  revelation  of  Himself 
among  men.  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  in  all 
that  concerned  the  moral  and  spiritual  na- 
ture of  man  the  most  important  person 
that  has  ever  appeared  in  human  history. 
His  transcendent  personality.  His  faultless 
character,  place  Him  at  the  head.  He  was 
the  best  of  all  men.  He  lived  the  best  life. 
He  loved  the  most.  He  was  humanity's 
beau-ideal.  He  was  personalized  truth. 
He  said,  ''I  am  the  truth."  He  was  em- 
bodied knowledge.  He  said,  ^'I  am  the 
light  of  the  world."  He  was  realized  re- 
demption. He  said,  "I  come  to  seek  and 
to  save  that  which  was  lost."  He  was  per- 
fectly unselfish,  even  unto  sacrifice.  He 
said,  "The  Son  of  Man  came  not  to  be  min- 
istered unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to  give 
His  life  a  ransom  for  many."  In  rising 
from  the  dead  he  put  the  final  seal  upon 
all  else  that  he  was  and  did.    That  great 


100     THE  SURE  PROMISES  OF  GOD 

fact  was  accepted  by  the  early  Christians 
as  the  final  seal  of  God's  redemption  in 
Christ.  Paul  has  boldly  said,  "If  Christ 
be  not  risen  from  the  dead  your  faith  is 
vain;  ye  are  yet  in  your  sins."  Through- 
out all  subsequent  history  the  living  Christ 
has  been  in  the  lives  of  believers  the  reas- 
surance of  all  that  God  has  promised  in 
Him.  Thus  through  all  the  range  of  His 
earthly  experience,  and  by  His  ever  living 
to  intercede  with  God  for  us,  Jesus  abides 
forever  the  living  and  mighty  pledge  of  all 
the  promises  of  God.  This  is  from  God's 
side.  It  remains  that  we  shall  think  of  our 
side  also,  and  see  how  Christ,  in  and  with 
us,  stands  related  to  the  promises  of  God. 
III.  Our  Reassurance  of  the  Promises. 
This  appears  in  the  words  '*  wherefore  also 
through  Him  is  the  Amen,  unto  the  glory  of 
God  through  us."  God's  yea  is  spoken 
down  through  Him  to  us.  Our  amen  is 
spoken  up  through  Him  back  to  God.  To 
all  His  promises,  God,  in  Christ,  adds  the 
pledge.  For  all  these  promises,  w^e,  in 
Christ,  find  reassurance  and  confidence. 
The  grace  of  God  speaking  to  our  hearts 
says,  **Yes,  my  promises  are  good."  The 
trusting  heart,  taking  Christ  as  Saviour, 


THE  SURE  PROMISES  OF  GOD     101 

looks  up  to  God  and  answers  back,  ''Amen, 
the  promises  are  sure  for  me."  When  we 
believe  in  Christ  we  take  all  that  He  brings 
with  Him  into  our  hearts  and  lives.  Thus 
experimentally  He  becomes  to  His  own  the 
reassurance  of  all  that  God  has  promised. 
This  is  a  matter  of  deep  personal  experi- 
ence. The  Psahnist  prayed,  ''Show  me  a 
token  for  good."  In  Christ  and  the  be- 
liever that  prayer  is  fully  and  finally  an- 
swered. The  life  of  faith  in  Christ  is  the 
life  of  confident  hope  with  regard  to  all 
that  God  has  said  He  would  do  for  the 
trusting  soul.  It  is  the  brave,  the  true,  the 
beautiful  life.  It  depends-  not  on  the  chang- 
ing things  of  time  and  humanity,  but  on  the 
changeless  word  of  the  eternal  God.  Even 
in  Him  who  *'in  the  beginning  was  the 
Word,  and  was  made  flesh  and  dwelt  among 
us."  Accepting  Christ  with  a  warm  and 
living  faith,  we  enter  the  sunlit  region  of 
safe  and  peaceful  confidence  in  all  the  ex- 
ceeding great  and  precious  promises  of 
God.  Here  while  we  wait  and  strive,  every 
time  we  think  of  a  promise,  and  think  of 
Christ,  our  hearts,  through  Him,  say 
**amen,  it  is  true  for  me."  ''Amen"  is  the 
word  with  which  we  have  learned  to  end 


102     THE  SURE  PROAHSES  OF  GOD 

our  prayers.  Though  often  we  say  it  with- 
out realizing  its  full  meaning,  it  helps  us 
now  and  then  to  remember  that  it  is  the 
devout  expression  of  our  confidence  in  God. 
The  little  word  is  itself  an  affirmation  on 
our  part,  as  well  as  a  petition,  that  what  is 
asked  may  be  made  secure. 

The  rapt  seer  upon  Patmos,  looking 
upon  the  strange  and  yet  glorious  visions 
which  were  vouchsafed  to  him,  saw  one 
wherein  a  great  multitude,  which  no  man 
could  number,  stood  before  the  throne  and 
before  the  Lamb  as  they  worshipped  God, 
and  they  said,  "Amen :  Blessing,  and  glory, 
and  wisdom,  and  thanksgiving,  and  honor, 
and  might,  be  unto  our  God  for  ever  and 
ever.  Amen."  This  ascription  of  praise 
begins  and  ends  with  ' '  amen. "  It  is  a  sug- 
gestion of  what  goes  on  in  the  redeemed 
people  of  God  toward  the  final  consumma- 
tion. The  church  of  the  redeemed  on  earth 
joins  with  the  church  triumphant  in  glory, 
in  sending  up  through  Christ  her  joyous 
amen  to  all  the  accepted  promises  of  our 
God. 

0  weary  heart,  puzzled  mind,  fainting 
and  doubtful  spirit,  look  to  all  the  prom- 
ises of  God,  no  matter  how  many  they  are, 


THE  SURE  PROMISES  OF  GOD     103 

in  all  their  varied  adaptation  to  every 
human  need.  These  are  yours.  You  have 
not  yet  reached  to  their  fulfillment.  Like 
the  saints  of  old,  you  salute  them  from 
afar.  But  yet  while  you  wait  in  your  weak- 
ness and  doubt,  God  speaks  His  everlast- 
ing ' '  yea ' '  even  to  you.  And  you,  in  Christ 
your  Lord,  may  be  able,  with  all  confidence 
and  hope,  to  answer  back  "Amen." 


VI 

THE  PARABLE  OF  THE 
LOST  AND  FOUND 

"Then  drew  near  unto  him  all  the  publicans  and  sinners  for 
to  hear  hira.  And  the  Pharisees  and  scribes  murmured,  saying. 
This  man  receiveth  sinners,  and  eateth  with  them.  And  ha 
spake   this  parable  unto  them."      Luke    15:1-3. 

THESE  introductory  verses  to  the 
15tli  chapter  of  Luke  give  us  the  oc- 
casion of  that  gracious  and  won- 
derful teaching  which  stands  out  so  promi- 
nently and  grandly  among  the  utterances 
of  our  Lord.  The  self-righteous  formalists 
objected  to  the  friendly  and  familiar  inter- 
course which  our  Lord  granted  to  publi- 
cans and  sinners.  It  is  not  difficult  to  see 
their  point  of  view,  though  it  is  impossible 
to  approve  of  it.  The  class  represented 
by  the  Pharisees  and  scribes  was  the  edu- 
cated and  cultured  class.  They  looked  down 
upon  the  publicans  as  renegades,  and  upon 
common  sinners  as  defiled  and  worthless. 
It  was  an  offense  to  them  that  one  who 
claimed  to  be  a  teacher,  and  who  gave  such 

104 


PARABLE  OF  LOST  AND  FOUND    105 

striking  lessons  in  spiritual  things  should 
humble  himself  and  the  class  of  teachers 
by  such  free  association  with  the  wicked 
and  depraved.  If  already  our  Lord  was 
giving  indications  of  his  claim  to  be  the 
Messiah  this  intensified  their  feeling. 
These  proud  and  selfish  critics  of  Jesus 
murmured  against  him  again  and  again 
for  his  efforts  to  win  and  save  by  close 
personal  contact  those  whom  they  esteemed 
unworthy  of  notice.  It  was  to  meet  this 
attitude,  and  this  outspoken  criticism,  that 
our  Lord  spoke  the  wonderful  parable  re- 
corded in  this  chapter. 

Let  us  frankly  take  the  view  of  many  of 
the  best  interpreters,  that  we  have  here  not 
three  parables,  but  one.  The  expression 
''this  parable"  applies  to  the  whole  chap- 
ter, and  not  to  the  first  section  alone.  At 
verse  8,  where  the  turn  is  made  from  the 
sheep  to  the  coin,  there  is  no  indication  of 
the  beginning  of  another  parable,  and  at 
verse  11,  where  the  teaching  concerning 
the  two  sons  is  begun,  there  is  no  mention 
of  another  parable.  The  expression  is  sim- 
ply ''and  he  said."  All  this  seems  to  show 
that  we  have  here  not  three  separate  para- 
bles, but  one  parable  in  three  sections,  all 


106    PARABLE  OF  LOST  AND  FOUND 

under  three  terms  of  comparison.  It  is  a 
pity  that  traditional  custom  has  not  only 
marred  the  unity  of  the  parable,  but  has 
misnamed  its  several  elements.  Current 
usage  speaks  of  the  three  parables ;  of  the 
lost  sheep,  the  lost  coin,  and  the  prodigal 
son.  Why  change  the  designation  on  the 
last?  Even  if  the  designations  were  cor- 
rect, it  would  be  better  to  preserve  the 
unity,  and  say,  the  lost  son.  But  there  is 
a  more  serious  objection  still  to  the  ac- 
cepted nomenclature.  It  emphasizes  one- 
half  of  the  teaching  and  omits  the  other. 
It  emphasizes  the  half  that  has  the  least 
emphasis  in  the  teaching  itself.  It  puts 
the  emphasis  on  ''lost"  rather  than  on 
"found,"  whereas  the  finding  is  what  the 
Lord  himself  especially  brings  to  view.  If 
we  must  give  a  title  to  the  whole  teaching, 
let  us  call  it  ' '  The  Parable  of  the  Lost  and 
Found."  The  lost  and  found  sheep,  the 
lost  and  found  coin,  the  lost  and  found  son. 
It  is  one  parable  where  losing  and  finding 
furnish  the  theme,  and  finding  is  the  chief 
point  of  emphasis. 

Holding  this  point  well  in  mind,  let  us 
revert  to  the  criticism  which  called  forth 
the  parable.    It  was  aimed  to  correct  the 


PARABLE  OF  LOST  AND  FOUND    107 

grievous  and  sinful  error  of  those  who 
thought  it  beneath  their  dignity  for  a  great 
teacher  to  seek  the  lost  and  find  them.  In 
three  glowing  and  imperishable  pictures 
the  Divine  Master  meets  the  criticism  at  its 
every  point  of  attack.  He  justifies  himself 
in  seeking  in  order  that  he  might  find  the 
lost.  And  more  than  this,  with  his  mar- 
velous tact,  he  implies  that  this  is  the  di- 
vine method.  Each  of  the  three  members 
of  the  parable  illustrates  the  general  truth 
of  the  losing  and  finding,  and  also  some 
particular  detail  which  bears  upon  the  crit- 
icism of  the  Pharisees. 

I.  The  Sheep  Lost  and  Found.  The  pic- 
ture presented  is  very  simple  and  clear. 
Anybody  who  knows  anything  of  sheep 
keeping  would  understand  it  in  a  moment. 
Here  is  a  shepherd ;  a  man  with  a  hundred 
sheep.  One  has  got  lost.  Ninety-nine  are 
safe  in  the  fold.  What  would  a  shepherd 
of  ordinary  common  sense  do?  Just  what 
he  is  described  as  doing.  He  would  go 
after  the  lost  one  and  get  it.  If  it  were  sick 
or  hurt  he  would  lay  it  on  his  shoulders,  not 
on  his  shoulder,  but  on  both  shoulders,  with 
its  head  resting  on  one,  its  body  against  the 
neck,  and  the  hind  quarters  on  the  other 


108    PARABLE  OF  LOST  AND  FOUND 

shoulder.  He  would  tenderly  care  for  the 
sheep.  Not  only  would  he  rejoice  over  hav- 
ing recovered  his  property,  and  saved  the 
life  of  one  of  his  pets,  he  would  call  on 
his  fellow-shepherds  to  sympathize  in  his 
joy  that  he  got  back  to  the  fold  with  his 
found  sheep.  This  is  the  simple  picture. 
Now  for  the  application. 

Our  Lord  says,  "Likewise  joy  shall  be 
in  heaven  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth 
more  than  over  ninety  and  nine  just  per- 
sons which  need  no  repentance."  Here  he 
turns  his  illustration  upon  his  critics. 
Among  you  here  on  earth  a  sinner  is  de- 
spised. In  heaven  a  recovered  sinner  is 
rejoiced  over.  God  delights  in  rescue  and 
restoration.  You  ought  not  to  criticize  any 
representative  of  God  who  goes  after  lost 
sinners  and  tries  to  bring  them  home.  You 
ought  to  understand  that  God  can  do  no 
less  than  a  man,  that  God,  in  relation  to 
sinful  human  beings,  should  have  as  much 
care  for  his  own  as  a  shepherd  should  have 
for  a  sheep.  Suppose  it  were  true  that 
there  were  ninety-nine  good  people  to  one 
bad  one.  It  ought  to  be  the  business  of 
society  to  get  that  bad  one  straight.  Sup- 
pose the  ninety-nine  good  people  should 


PARABLE  OF  LOST  AND  FOUND    109 

scorn  the  one  wanderer.  Would  that  be 
right?  Suppose  we  take  your  wrong 
opinion  for  granted;  that  you  yourself  do 
not  need  any  repentance;  that  you  are  al- 
ready well  pleasing  to  God.  Ought  we  to 
keep  him,  and  those  who  represent  him, 
from  trying  to  save  the  one  that  is  lost? 

This  seems  to  be  the  force  of  the  argu- 
ment. It  is  not  necessary  to  discuss 
whether  our  Lord  teaches  that  there  are 
persons  who  need  no  repentance.  All  men 
are  sinners  and  need  to  repent.  He  is  not 
here  discussing  that  point,  but  simply  tak- 
ing the  critic  on  his  own  ground.  To  seek 
the  lost,  even  when  reduced  to  a  minimum, 
is  a  divine  business ;  and  the  rescue  of  the 
lost,  even  if  they  are  very  few,  is  a  divine 
joy.  Perhaps  also  our  Lord's  thought  is 
aimed  at  the  low  estimate  placed  by  the 
Pharisees  upon  the  class  of  persons  who 
were  the  objects  of  the  Lord's  care.  One 
sheep  in  a  hundred  does  not  amount  to 
much,  but  a  careful  shepherd  does  not 
agree  to  that.  Good  business  looks  after 
the  one  bad  debt.  The  ninety-nine  good 
ones  are  safe.  A  good  captain  would  go 
after  the  one  deserter  if  ninety-nine  faith- 
ful troops  remained.    Those  who  are  saved 


no  PARABLE  OF  LOST  AND  FOUND 

do  not  need  looking  after.  It  is  the  lost 
one.  This  point  finds  emphatic  illustration 
in  the  next  section  of  the  parable. 

IL  A  Colli  Lost  and  Found.  In  the  first 
section  it  was  a  man  and  a  sheep.  The 
outdoor  economy.  In  this  section  it  is  a 
woman  and  a  coin.  Indoor  economy.  The 
picture  of  human  nature  is  thus  made  com- 
plete. The  careful  shepherd  is  matched  by 
the  frugal  housewife.  How  perfectly  true 
to  human  nature  is  the  picture.  We 
may  also  say  by  way  of  parenthesis, 
how  strangely  many  interpreters  have 
missed  the  point,  and  by  overstraining 
have  perverted  the  meaning  of  this  simple 
and  telling  illustration.  How  true  is  the 
picture  to  feminine  human  nature.  A 
woman  is  more  disturbed  by  small  losses 
than  a  man.  If  we  might  dare  to  modern- 
ize the  picture,  we  would  say  that  suppose 
a  man,  on  starting  out  to  business,  should 
give  his  wife  ten  quarters,  two  dollars  and 
fifty  cents,  for  the  day's  marketing.  In 
moving  about  one  of  the  pieces  escaping 
from  her  hands  rolls  away  somewhere  in 
the  room  and  is  lost.  If  the  man  himself 
had  dropped  it  he  would  have  looked  about 
a  little  while,  and  not  finding  it  would  have 


PARABLE  OF  LOST  AND  FOUND    111 

impatiently  gone  on  to  his  business  to  make 
more  in  the  time  he  would  have  spent  hunt- 
ing for  the  coin.  Not  so  a  woman.  She 
would  have  done  exactly  as  this  woman  in 
the  parable.  She  would  have  moved  every 
piece  of  furniture,  swept  the  house,  and 
sought  diligently  until  she  found  it.  Right 
here  a  homely  incident  may  pardonably  be 
used  to  illustrate  the  point.  After  the  de- 
livery of  this  sermon  in  a  certain  great 
tabernacle,  the  preacher  happened  to  see  a 
woman  raking  in  the  sawdust  of  the  floor 
with  the  point  of  her  parasol.  He  asked 
if  she  had  lost  something.  She  smiled  and 
said,  ''I  hoped  you  would  not  see  me,  for 
I  dropped  a  nickel  here  where  I  was  sitting, 
and  am  trying  to  find  it. ' '  We  both  laughed 
over  the  pleasantry  as  illustrating  the 
point  that  had  been  made.  How  true  to 
human  nature  it  is.  The  woman  too  calls 
upon  her  neighbors  to  rejoice  with  her  in 
finding  the  piece  which  she  had  lost. 
Housewives  of  similar  feeling  would  un- 
derstand hers,  and  rejoice  with  her.  The 
point  here  is  that  the  piece  was  not  of 
much  value,  and  yet  it  became  the  object 
of  a  careful  woman's  solicitude.  Nobody 
can  seriously  object  to  the  woman's  action, 


112    PARABLE  OF  LOST  AND  FOUND 

even  though  it  may  cause  a  smile.  A  frugal 
housemother  takes  pains  to  find  a  lost  coin, 
and  rejoices  in  its  recovery. 

Does  not  God  care  when  a  soul  is  lost, 
when  a  character  is  marred  and  disfigured, 
when  a  life  departs  from  the  regular  way 
and  goes  out  into  sin  and  violence?  Shall 
a  woman  care  for  a  coin,  and  God  not  care 
for  a  publican?  Shall  a  woman  rejoice  over 
a  recovered  piece  of  money,  of  little  value, 
and  the  Redeemer  not  be  glad  over  a  saved 
soul,  even  though  esteemed  of  little  value 
by  the  proud?  Suppose  we  accept  the 
Pharisaic  estimate  of  publicans  and  sin- 
ners as  being  of  no  value,  as  worth  no  care 
in  search,  as  worthy  of  no  joy  in  recovery. 
Suppose,  you  proud  Pharisee,  you  self- 
righteous  scribe,  that  a  publican  and  a  sin- 
ner are  outcasts  and  worthless.  Do  you 
expect  the  Creator  and  the  Saviour  of  men 
to  take  your  point  of  view?  No.  A  human 
soul,  in  the  eyes  of  its  Creator  and  Re- 
deemer is  a  thing  of  infinite  value.  It  is  to 
be  sought  with  diligence,  and  when  it  is 
found  and  saved  and  purified,  its  recovery 
is  a  signal  for  celestial  joy,  for  divine  de- 
light. How  wonderfully  does  the  Lord  thus 
turn  the  point  of  his  argument  upon  the 


PARABLE  OF  LOST  AND  FOUND    113 

selfish  and  proud  critics  of  his  course.  It 
is  not  that  he  thought  a  soul  of  little  value, 
but  he  made  them  see  that  even  if  it  were 
so,  that  soul  would  be  worth  a  search,  and 
worthy  of  a  song. 

Notice  that  the  proportion  is  less  in  this 
section  of  the  parable.  It  was  one  sheep  out 
of  a  hundred.  It  is  one  coin  out  of  ten.  In 
the  last  section  of  the  parable,  to  which  we 
now  come,  it  is  one  out  of  two.  Let  us  not 
miss  the  force  of  this.  The  Master  is  get- 
ting very  close  to  his  critics.  We  have  had 
a  shepherd  and  a  sheep,  a  woman  and  a 
coin.  The  last  section  brings  us  to  a  father 
and  a  son.  But  the  lesson,  though  growing 
in  power,  is  the  same  in  each  instance. 

III.  A  Lost  and  Found  So7i.  The  parable 
is  a  climax,  and  we  come  now  to  its  height. 
This  section  still  presents  the  force  of 
human  nature.  A  man  has  two  sons.  One 
is  wild.  He  wants  his  share  of  the  coming 
estate,  and  wants  it  now.  We  wonder  at 
the  father's  willingness  to  give  the  boy  his 
share  in  advance  and  let  him  go.  But  some- 
times the  best  way  to  deal  with  a  wayward 
boy  is  to  let  him  have  his  foolish  way,  and 
it  is  one  of  those  times  which  is  depicted  in 
this  section  of  the  parable.    The  beautiful 


114    PARABLE  OF  LOST  AND  FOUND 

story  is  very  familiar.  Away  the  careless 
youth  goes,  wastes  his  money  in  riotous 
living,  and  comes  to  want.  Reduced  to  hun- 
ger and  rags  he  seeks  work,  and  is  sent 
to  take  care  of  swine.  Hungry  to  the  utter- 
most, he  shares  the  food  of  his  pigs,  and 
then  begins  to  think.  Visions  of  plenty 
that  he  had  enjoyed  in  the  father's  house 
come  to  him.  The  affectionate  care  of  his 
father  smites  him  to  the  heart.  He  knows 
he  is  unworthy  of  home.  He  will  go  and 
seek  forgiveness  and  restoration.  Now  the 
scene  shifts  to  the  father,  whose  affection- 
ate concern  for  his  wayward  boy  had  never 
ceased.  He  thought  the  boy  would  come 
back,  and  was  on  the  lookout.  One  day  he 
espies  a  traveler  afoot  and  far  away.  It 
is  his  boy.  He  quickly  leaves  his  outpost, 
and  runs  dowTi  the  road  and  clasps  the  boy 
in  his  arms.  The  boy  makes  his  humble 
confession,  admits  his  unworthiness,  and 
asks  that  he  may  be  admitted  as  a  servant. 
But  the  father  checks  him,  assuring  him 
he  is  still  a  son;  makes  provision  for  the 
immediate  relief  of  his  necessities;  wel- 
comes him  home  with  a  feast;  and  makes 
the  whole  household  rejoice  over  the  find- 
ing of  his  lost  son. 


PARABLE  OF  LOST  AND  FOUND    115 

Meantime,  yonder  in  the  field  the  brother 
who  had  not  strayed  hears  the  noise  of 
joyous  festivity  in  the  home.  His  narrow 
and  jealous  soul  wonders  what  it  all  may 
be  about.  Coming  to  the  house  he  does 
not  enter,  but  skulks  on  the  outside  to  in- 
quire of  a  servant  what  all  that  racket 
meant.  The  servant  informs  him  that  his 
brother,  the  long  lost  wanderer,  has  come 
home  again,  and  the  joy  of  the  house  is 
over  that  happy  event.  The  father  hears 
of  the  elder  son's  criticism,  and  ill  feeling, 
and  comes  out  to  ask  him  to  join  in  the 
rejoicing  over  the  recovery  of  his  brother. 
He  scorns  his  brother,  feeling  contempt  for 
one  who  had  wasted  his  substance  and  had 
defiled  himself  with  the  evil  companion- 
ship of  the  world.  Proud  of  his  own  fru- 
gality and  morality,  he  looks  with  anger 
instead  of  rejoicing  on  the  return  of  his 
erring  brother  to  the  home  life.  The  joy 
of  the  father  brings  no  joy  to  him.  This 
dissolute  intruder,  who  had  had  his  day 
and  lost  it,  was  no  brother  of  his.  If  his 
father  chose  to  regard  him  as  a  son  that 
was  the  father's  affair;  he  would  not  es- 
teem him  a  brother.  Meanly  he  taxes  the 
father  with  want  of  liberality  to  himself 


116    PARABLE  OF  LOST  AND  FOUND 

and  is  jealous  of  the  feast  which  has  been 
spread  for  the  returning  penitent.  The 
father  gently  rebukes  him,  reminding  him 
that  at  any  time  he  could  have  his  own 
share  in  the  estate,  and  that  all  that  was 
in  the  home  was  at  his  disposal.  But  no. 
No  appeal  could  reach  that  jealous,  narrow, 
self-righteous  spirit,  and  he  refuses  ut- 
terly to  take  part  in  the  rejoicings  of  the 
household.  The  father  justifies  his  own 
action  in  the  glorious  fact  that  the  wan- 
derer had  returned.  A  son  had  been  re- 
claimed and  restored.  Surely  there  can 
be  no  higher  joy  in  an  earthly  home  than 
such  a  return  as  this.  Every  good  instinct 
of  humanity  rises  to  the  picture  here  pre- 
sented. It  is  surprising  and  painful  that 
anyone  could  manifest  the  spirit  of  the 
elder  son.    But  that  is  just  the  point. 

Gradually  our  Lord  has  come  to  the  main 
point  of  his  teaching,  and  strikes  his  crit- 
ics this  sledge  hammer  blow  at  the  close. 
The  publican  and  sinner  were  their 
brothers;  children  of  Abraham;  bound  by 
every  tie  of  humanity  and  kinship.  Grant 
that  they  were  bad:  that  they  had  done 
wrong;  that  they  had  broken  the  law  and 
acted  unworthily  of  God,  of  their  ancestry, 


PARABLE  OF  LOST  AND  FOUND    117 

of  the  better  element  in  their  nation;  that 
they  were  a  disgrace  and  a  shame.  All 
this  was  the  truth,  but  were  they  to  be  neg- 
lected? Was  anyone  who  tried  to  rescue 
them  from  their  evil  ways  and  bring  them 
to  a  better  life  to  be  blamed  for  it?  Was 
he  who  loved  their  souls  to  be  sharply  at- 
tacked because  he  saw  there  was  hope  to 
win  from  among  this  class  those  who  would 
be  purified  and  fitted  for  higher  and  better 
things?  How  sharply  contrasted  is  this 
narrow  spirit  of  pride  and  self -righteous- 
ness with  the  glomng  tenderness  of  the 
father  and  the  glad  joy  of  even  the  ser- 
vants who  welcomed  the  returning  prodi- 
gal. God  and  heaven  rejoice  in  the  saving 
of  sinners.  Of  Jesus  it  is  written,  *'Who 
for  the  joy  that  was  set  before  him  endured 
the  cross,  despising  the  shame."  That  joy 
was  the  joy  of  an  accomplished  redemp- 
tion. It  was  the  joy  of  a  glad  heaven  over 
a  redeemed  earth;  the  joy  of  unfallen 
angels  over  the  restoration  of  fallen  man; 
the  joy  of  perfected  saints  over  saved  sin- 
ners. Now  the  answer  is  made.  The  elder 
son,  so  far  from  being  an  admirable  char- 
acter, is  shown  in  his  true  light.  The  pride 
of  the  Pharisee  is  punctured  and  collapses. 


118    PARABLE  OF  LOST  AND  FOUND 

There  are  no  ninety  and  nine  just  persons 
who  need  no  repentance.  There  is  a  class 
of  self-righteous,  who  need  rebuke,  and 
they  get  it. 

Looking  thus  upon  the  parable  as  a 
whole,  we  must  be  struck  with  the  unity  of 
its  teaching,  and  the  crushing  force  of  its 
argument.  Its  application  to  this  immedi- 
ate circumstance  is  wonderfully  clear  and 
forcible.  Its  exhaustless  teachings  abide 
with  us  today.  Its  details  have  been  pre- 
sented in  thousands  of  sermons,  and  still 
each  point  of  instruction  is  luminous  and 
impressive.  But  something  is  to  be  gained 
by  thus  endeavoring  to  preserve  the  unity 
of  the  whole,  and  turn  its  great  lessons  to 
r  -  the  needs  of  our  o\\ti  day.  The  first  of 
'—  these  is  the  one  most  often  used  and  exem- 
plified in  preaching.  That  is,  the  evan- 
r  gelistic  motive  and  method.  The  saving 
^  grace  of  God;  his  lo\dng  compassion  to- 
ward lost  sinners ;  the  glory  and  joy  of  sav- 
ing them.  This  is  the  immortal  teaching 
of  this  parable.  But  we  must  not  lose  sight 
of  the  second  lesson  which  in  our  Lord's 
own  view,  and  because  of  the  important 
circumstances,  was  the  main  one.  It  is  a 
rebuke  to  that  spirit  of  pride  and  indif- 


PARABLE  OF  LOST  AND  FOUND    119 

ference  wliicli  looks  upon  soul-saving  with 
scorn,  and  has  only  objections  to  offer 
when  efforts  are  made  to  reach  and  save 
the  wicked,  the  lost.  The  cultured  and 
moral  who  look  downi  upon  evangelistic 
efforts  should  lay  this  teaching  well  to 
heart.  The  indifferent  and  careless,  who 
neglect  the  duty  of  soul- winning  should  find 
here  a  warning  lest  neglect  should  gener- 
ate indifference,  and  indifference  become 
hardened  pride.  While  God  and  heaven 
rejoice  in  finding  and  saving  sinners,  the 
people  of  God  on  earth  should  find  their 
business  and  their  joy  in  following  the 
Master's  blessed  example  in  seeking  and 
saving  that  which  is  lost. 

Let  us  repeat,  with  emphasis,  that  the 
key-note  of  the  parable  is  the  joy  of  finding 
that  which  was  lost.  The  pathetic  minor 
strain,  which  expresses  the  sorrow  of  los- 
ing, is  offset  by  the  brilliant  major  chord, 
which  thrills  with  the  happiness  of  finding. 
The  somber  shadow  of  the  mean-spirited 
and  narrow-minded  elder  brother,  whose 
little  soul  could  not  enter  into  the  joy  of 
his  father  over  the  returning  prodigal 
throws  into  clearer  relief  the  bright  glad- 
ness of  that  household,  which  rings  with 


120    PARABLE  OF  LOST  AND  FOUND 

the  joy  of  a  recovered  loved  one.  Nor  must 
we  omit  from  our  thought  the  joy  of  the 
soul  that  is  found  and  saved.  The  return- 
ing wanderer  had  his  portion  of  the  happi- 
ness of  the  father's  house.  For  us  Chris- 
tians this  joy  of  being  found  may  be  re- 
doubled and  glorified  in  that  of  finding 
others.  Happy  the  soul  that  can  enter  into 
the  joy  of  the  Lord  by  bringing  other  souls 
into  that  eternal  gladness.  Happy  the 
church  that  can  enhance  the  quiet  gladness 
of  her  accustomed  worship  by  the  rapture 
of  that  experience  which  came  to  the  earli- 
est Christians,  when  the  Lord  added  to 
them  daily  those  who  were  being  saved. 


VII 

THE  FAITHFUL  SAYING 

"This  is  a  faithful  saying,  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation, 
that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners;  of  whom 
I  am  chief."     1  Timothy  1:15. 

IN  the  life  and  thought  of  men  great 
value  and  meaning  attach  to  sayings. 
Both  in  literature,  and  in  the  larger 
expression  of  thought,  through  conversa- 
tion many  sayings  pass  current.  They 
are  condensed  and  portable  expressions  of 
truth  or  of  some  aspect  of  truth.  Inspira- 
tion has  given  us  many  of  these.  The  Book 
of  God  is  gemmed  with  them.  Many  are 
found  in  the  writings  of  the  Apostle  Paul. 
This  is  one  of  the  best  known  and  most 
frequently  quoted.  Thousands  of  sermons 
have  been  preached  upon  it.  Tracts  and 
incidents  have  grown  out  of  it.  Soul  win- 
ners have  frequently  used  it  in  bringing 
sinners  to  the  Saviour.  A  simple  outline 
will  serve  us  for  a  study  of  this  great  word. 
It  is  strikingly  introduced,  clearly  stated, 
and  personally  applied. 

121 


122       THE  FAITHFUL  SxVYING 

I.  Strikingly  Introduced.  The  character 
of  the  saying  is  sketched  beforehand.  It  is 
thus  introduced  and  commended  to  the 
reader  or  hearer.  We  know  in  our  social 
intercourse  how  much  depends  upon  a  suit- 
able introduction.  We  bring  our  friend  to 
another  friend.  We  say  something  that 
will  make  a  favorable  impression.  How 
beautiful  is  a  pleasant  introduction.  It  is 
thus  with  our  saying.  Before  it  is  ever 
stated  it  is  described  as  being  "faithful 
and  worthy  of  all  acceptance.'*  Its  two 
outstanding  qualities  are  brought  to  no- 
tice before  its  richness  and  fullness  of 
meaning  are  themselves  set  forth. 

It  is  a  faithful  saying.  Does  it  strike  us 
that  this  word  is  unusual  when  applied  to 
things  rather  than  to  persons?  The  Eng- 
lish word  does  not  fully  render  the  origi- 
nal, and  yet  it  is  quite  suitable.  The  idea 
of  value  is  involved  in  the  Greek.  It  is  a 
genuine  and  precious  saying,  yet  the 
thought  of  fidelity  is  perhaps  the  most 
prominent  in  the  description.  It  is  a  trust- 
worthy saying.  We  may  say  that,  like  a 
faithful  person,  it  will  do  what  is  expected 
of  it.  Trust  it  and  it  will  not  fail  you.  Put 
something  into  its  charge,  and  it  will  abun- 


THE  FAITHFUL  SAYING       12S 

dantly  meet  the  confidence  reposed.  It 
never  deceived  anybody  who  really  ac- 
cepted and  trusted  it.  In  this  sense  it  has 
been  and  remams  a  faithful  word. 

A  story  is  told  of  a  shepherd  dog  in  the 
bleak  mountains  of  Scotland.  A  sudden 
snow  storm  came.  The  experienced  and 
trusted  keeper  of  the  flock  could  not  get 
them  to  the  fold  in  time,  but  he  drove  them 
into  a  cove  of  the  mountains  where  they 
were  found  safe  by  the  shepherd  next  day 
— but  the  dog  was  frozen  stiff,  dead  at  his 
post  of  duty.    Faithful  dog. 

At  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  in  the 
United  States,  when  the  Southern  negro 
slaves  were  all  freed  and  the  ties  which  had 
bound  master  and  servants  together  were 
suddenly  disrupted,  and  relations  changed, 
there  were  found  in  many  Southern  homes 
a  few  of  the  old  servants  who,  though  free 
to  go,  preferred  to  remain  as  hired  ser- 
vants with  those  whom  they  had  formerly 
served  as  slaves.  Nothing  finer  in  human 
character  has  appeared  than  the  affection- 
ate fidelity  of  many  of  those  who  were  a 
comfort  and  a  help  in  times  of  poverty, 
misfortune  and  change.  Faithful  ser- 
vants. 


124       THE  FAITHFUL  SAYING 

You  have  a  friend ;  you  are  in  trouble,  lie 
stands  by  you;  you  have  suffered  from 
misunderstanding,  he  does  not  misunder- 
stand; you  are  unjustly  criticised,  he  de- 
fends you;  you  are  overburdened  with 
care  he  helps  you ;  you  are  at  a  loss  what 
to  do,  he  tells  you ;  you  are  in  need,  he  re- 
lieves you ;  you  are  in  distress,  he  comforts 
you.    Faithful  friend. 

Even  so  this  saying  is  faithful.  It  does 
what  is  expected  of  it.  It  never  yet  de- 
ceived a  soul  that  took  it  for  just  what  it 
is  worth.  It  stands  by  in  every  distress  of 
temptation,  in  every  overwhelming  of 
grief,  in  every  perplexity  that  clouds  the 
mind  or  strains  the  heart.  It  is  indeed 
faithful. 

It  is  worthy  of  all  acceptation — rather 
of  all  acceptance,  that  is,  of  every  kind  of 
acceptance  that  can  be  given  to  it.  When 
presented  to  the  mind  it  is  worthy  of  every 
kind  of  reception  which  the  mind  can  give. 
It  is  worthy  of  attention.  Certainly  a  say- 
ing like  this  should  not  fail  to  receive  the 
attention  of  any  human  being,  for  it  comes 
to  meet  a  universal  human  need,  and  offers 
help  where  men  are  most  helpless.  It  is 
worthy  of  the  best  mental  action  that  it 


THE  FAITHFUL  SAYING       125 

can  receive.  No  discovery  of  science,  no 
deduction  of  human  reasoning,  no  quest  of 
imagination  can  seek  or  reach  what  is  more 
worthy  of  such  action  than  this  great  and 
faithful  word.  To  say  that  it  should  meet 
with  thoughtful  and  rational  considera- 
tion is  to  say  only  what  the  saying  itself 
demands.  But  intellect  is  not  all.  A  say- 
ing like  this  comes  home  to  the  deepest 
feelings.  It  touches  the  heart  as  well  as 
claims  the  attention  of  the  intellect.  This 
is  not  a  word  which  should  fall  upon  a  cold 
heart.  How  could  it  do  otherwise  than 
warm  the  deepest  feelings  of  which  we  are 
capable?  The  saying  should  be  welcomed 
into  the  region  of  tenderness,  of  deep  per- 
sonal emotion.  If  it  means  what  it  says 
and  is  trustworthy,  there  should  be  every 
inclination  to  accept  it.  It  is  protective, 
appealing,  winsome,  comforting,  hopeful. 
Again  this  saying  presents  itself  to  choice. 
It  does  not  compel  assent  nor  dissent.  It 
seeks  recognition  on  its  merits,  on  its  rea- 
sonableness, its  verity,  its  historic  reality, 
its  tested  character.  It  is  worthy  of  every 
right  effort  that  the  will  can  make  in  giv- 
ing it  favor  to  the  reason,  and  precious- 
ness  to  the  heart.    Thus  every  faculty  of 


126       THE  FAITHFUL  SAYING 

the  soul  that  is  or  can  he  concerned  in  the 
acceptance  of  such  a  saying  will  he  worth- 
ily so  concerned  when  the  saying  is  pre- 
sented. We  might  go  further  still  and  say 
that  the  dignity  of  the  saying,  considering 
its  origin  and  its  claim,  makes  it  worthy  of 
acceptance.  It  is  an  overture  from  God. 
This  is  its  unique  claim  for  itself.  The 
claim  of  course  must  be  tested,  but  it  will 
stand  the  test;  it  has  stood  it.  The  claim 
itself  is  of  no  small  dignity  and  grandeur. 
Thus,  in  every  way  conceivable  is  the  say- 
ing commended  to  the  acceptance  of  man- 
kind. 

II.  Clearly  Stated.  What  then  is  this 
great  saying?  It  is  the  heart  of  the  gospel, 
it  is  the  burden  of  the  Bible,  prefigured  in 
prophecy,  realized  in  history:  *' Christ 
Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sin- 
ners." The  language  is  simple,  the  thought 
profound  and  sublime.  He  was,  and  re- 
mains, a  historic  character,  this  Christ 
Jesus.  No  figure  is  better  or  more  defi- 
nitely outlined  in  the  historic  sense  of  man- 
kind than  that  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  The 
account  of  his  life  is  very  brief.  The  active 
life  itself  was  very  short.  Compared  with 
the  centuries  before  and  after,  the  brief 


THE  FAITHFUL  SAYING       127 

years  of  his  earthly  ministry  were  but  as 
a  flash  upon  a  canvas,  but  that  life  glows 
with  quenchless  brilliancy.  Its  light  can 
never  be  put  out,  its  meaning  can  never  be 
withdrawn  from  the  current  affairs  of 
human  destiny.  Jesus  was  and  remains 
unique  among  human  beings.  Every  at- 
tack which  has  tried  to  discredit  him  has 
only  left  him  more  strong  and  clear.  The 
extreme  folly  of  those  who  have  tried  to 
make  him  out  only  a  myth  has  been  shown. 
The  fact  of  his  life,  the  burden  of  it,  the 
meaning  of  it,  the  purpose  of  it,  the  effect 
of  it — these  are  the  sure  data  of  history. 
The  saying  indicates  something  unusual 
in  the  coming  of  Jesus  Christ  into  human 
life  and  history.  He  came  not  as  other 
men  came.  There  was  something  mysteri- 
ous even  on  the  human  side  in  his  birth. 
More  is  meant  in  the  statement  than  that 
he  was  born  at  a  certain  time  and  place. 
He  came  into  the  world  as  if  from  some 
other  sphere,  as  with  some  higher  and  more 
significant  aim  and  purpose  than  the  com- 
mon man.  There  is  an  impressiveness  in 
the  very  simplicity  of  the  statement,  as  if 
he  was  a  person  of  special  dignity  or  mo- 
ment, whose  coming  into  the  world  was  an 


128       THE  FAITHFUL  SAYING 

event  out  of  the  ordinary.  Yet  he  came 
M^ith  no  world-wide  display.  Quietly,  hum- 
bly, pathetically,  but  beautifully  he  came 
into  the  world.  No  silken  couch  in  a  lordly 
palace  was  prepared  for  his  tender  infan- 
tile body.  No  garments  soft  and  costly  cir- 
cled his  baby  form,  but  the  coarse  swad- 
dling bands  of  poverty  enveloped  first  the 
faultless  beauty  of  his  babyhood.  He  came 
into  the  world  not  as  a  conquer er,  with 
armies  to  overwhelm  it;  not  as  a  multi- 
millionaire to  buy  it  with  its  own  treasures ; 
not  as  an  invincible  philosopher  to  sweep 
away  its  intellectual  freedom  by  the  force 
of  imperious  logic.  Aims  like  these  were 
very  far  from  his  purpose,  that  was  much 
simpler  and  yet  much  greater  than  any  of 
them. 

He  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners. 
This  was  his  business;  this  was  his  life; 
this  was  the  center  of  his  teaching ;  this  was 
the  motive  of  his  self  sacrifice ;  this  was  the 
meaning  of  his  crucifixion ;  this  was  to  be 
the  triumph  of  his  resurrection ;  this  is  to 
be  the  consummation  of  his  final  triumph 
when  he  shall  come  the  second  time,  with- 
out sin,  unto  salvation.  Whoever  in  human 
history  proposed  to  himself  a  mission  like 


THE  FAITHFUL  SAYING       129 

this  ?  What  higher  aim  could  ever  animate 
the  loftiest  purposes  of  a  man  than  this? 
It  is  easy  to  repeat  to  ourselves  that 
herein  is  expressed  the  divine  purpose  of 
redemption,  but  to  grasp  the  fullness  of 
the  meaning  involved  in  that  statement  of 
the  gospel  is  not  so  easy.  We  readily  per- 
ceive in  the  story  of  our  Lord's  life  how 
this  aim  was  supreme  in  his  own  conscious- 
ness and  in  his  endeavor.  He  declared  that 
he  had  come  ''to  seek  and  to  save  that 
which  was  lost."  He  was  called  the  friend 
of  sinners.  He  pronounced  himself  to  be 
the  way  to  God,  the  light  of  the  world.  He 
proclaimed  that  uplifted  on  his  cross  he 
would  draw  all  men  unto  himself.  He  as- 
serted that  he  had  come  not  to  receive  ser- 
vice from  others,  but  to  render  the  highest 
of  all  service  by  giving  his  life  as  a  ransom 
for  many. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  this  view  of  the 
mission  of  Jesus  in  the  world  was  that 
which  impressed  most  his  immediate  fol- 
lowers; those  who  were  charged  with  the 
furtherance  of  his  work  through  all  time. 
They  were  to  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature.  They  were  to  make  disciples  of 
all  the  nations.    From  the  original  center, 


130       THE   FAITHFUL  SAYING 

they  were  to  go  out  to  the  uttermost  parts 
of  the  earth,  charged  ^yiih  the  message  and 
good  news  of  redemption  from  sin.  John, 
the  forerunner,  proclaimed  him  as  "the 
Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of 
the  world."  Peter,  the  leader  of  the  apos- 
tles, preached  him  as  bearing  the  only  name 
under  heaven  whereby  we  must  be  saved. 
John,  the  beloved,  declares  that  he  comes 
as  the  propitiation  for  our  sins,  and  not  for 
ours  only,  but  for  the  sins  of  the  whole 
world.  This  also  was  the  burden  and  the 
glory  of  that  rich  and  fruitful  witness 
borne  in  so  many  places  and  through  such 
unexampled  toils  and  sufferings  by  the 
great  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles.  Many  of  his 
richest  sayings  find  their  fullness  of  mean- 
ing in  this  great  thought.  It  was  the  core 
of  his  own  personal  experience. 

III.  Personally  Applied.  ''Of  whom  I 
am  chief."  At  first  this  expression  causes 
surprise.  We  are  so  accustomed  to  think 
of  Paul  as  the  chief  of  all  Christians  that 
we  cannot  understand  how  he  could  think 
himself  to  be  the  chief  of  all  sinners.  He 
nowhere  claims  to  be  the  chief  of  Chris- 
tians. In  the  exercise  of  his  office  he  de- 
clares that  he  is  no  whit  behind  the  chief- 


THE  FAITHFUL  SAYING       131 

est  of  the  apostles,  but  that  was  because  his 
Lord  had  placed  him  there.  It  was  not  be- 
cause he  had  sought  the  distinction,  or 
thought  himself  worthy  of  it.  That  is  an 
official  declaration;  this  is  a  personal  one. 
Still  the  question  comes  back,  how  could 
Paul  say  this  I  Was  he  insincere!  Is  this 
a  bit  of  extravagant  self -depreciation?  We 
answer  at  once  emphatically  in  the  nega- 
tive. The  whole  life  and  teaching  of  the 
eminent  apostle  is  a  refutation  of  any 
charge  of  insincerity.  He  was  making  no 
bid  for  the  reputation  of  humility.  He  was 
writing  to  his  own  son  in  the  gospel,  to  his 
most  intimate  companion,  with  the  possible 
exception  of  Luke.  He  was  unfolding  to 
his  friend  the  very  heart  of  his  heart.  What 
he  says  here  he  says  with  the  deepest  con- 
viction, with  the  utmost  sincerity.  He 
really  felt  himself  to  be  the  ''first,"  that  is 
the  word,  the  first  of  all  sinners.  In  that 
large  class  of  delinquents  he  mournfully 
stood  at  the  head.  Granting  sincerity,  we 
still  must  ask  how  could  Paul  honestly 
think  himself  to  be  the  first  of  sinners'?  Is 
it  not  a  morbid  though  sincere  estimate? 
Was  not  the  conscience  too  tender?  Did 
not  the  overwhelming  sense  of  his  former 


132       THE  FAITHFUL  SAYING 

guilt  as  a  persecutor  upset  the  balance  of 
his  judgment  and  make  him  think  of  him- 
self more  humbly  than  he  ought  to  have 
thought?  We  answer,  yes,  there  is  prob- 
ably some  truth  in  this  view  of  the  matter, 
yet  we  would  not  say  it  was  in  any  degree 
a  morbid  view.  It  was  Paul's  own  sincere 
feeling,  but  we  are  not  bound  to  agree  with 
him.  It  was  the  genuine  utterance  of  a  soul 
deeply  conscious  of  fault,  but  we,  whose 
faults  are  as  great  or  greater,  cannot  will- 
ingly place  our  great  brother  above  our- 
selves in  rank  as  sinners.  We  cheerfully 
yield  him  preference  in  saintliness  and  in 
service,  but  not  in  sinfulness  and  in  blame. 
What  we  are  concerned  with  here,  how- 
ever, is  not  the  comparative  point  of  view, 
but  the  positive.  We  leave  ourselves  and 
all  other  saved  sinners  out  of  the  com- 
parison. We  come  back  to  Paul,  sole  and 
individual.  Why  did  he  feel  himself  to  be 
the  chief  of  sinners! 

Notice  that  his  description  of  himself  is 
still  in  the  present  tense.  He  does  not 
say  **of  whom  I  was  once  chief,"  but  *'of 
whom  I  am  now  the  chief. ' '  Certainly  this 
does  not  mean  that  he  was  a  condemned 
sinner.  No  saint  ever  more  fully  and 
gloriously  rejoiced  in  the  consciousness  of 


THE  FAITHFUL  SAYING       133 

salvation  through  grace  than  did  Paul  him- 
self. He  was  a  saved  sinner,  but  still  he 
cannot  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  in  him- 
self he  still,  though  saved,  and  even  as- 
sured, stands  in  his  own  consciousness  as 
first  in  the  company  of  sinners.  Two 
things  we  must  here  bear  in  mind  if  we 
would  understand  the  psychology  of  this 
profound  and  somewhat  puzzling  state- 
ment. First,  we  must  see  how  the  shadow 
of  the  past  falls  across  the  experience  of 
the  present.  He  goes  on  to  explain.  His 
former  character  and  quality  were  those 
of  ''blasphemer,"  ''persecutor,"  and  "in- 
jurious. ' '  This  was  his  character  when  he 
was  arrested  and  converted.  He  never, 
never  could  forget  it.  The  sin  w^as  for- 
given but  he  could  not  erase  it  from  his 
memory,  nor  excuse  it.  His  Lord  had  for- 
given him,  but  he  never  could  forgive  him- 
self. He  was  not  a  thief  nor  a  liar  nor 
a  profligate.  The  gross  sins  had  never 
been  his.  Upright  and  moral,  from  his 
youth  his  life  had  been,  by  human  stand- 
ards, above  reproach.  But  that  such  a 
man  as  that,  with  all  the  moral  and  spirit- 
ual advantages  that  he  had,  should  have 
been  a  willing  murderer  of  Stephen  and 
others,  should  have  dragged  innocent  and 


134       THE  FAITHFUL  SAYING 

good  men  and  even  women  to  prison  and 
to  death;  that  such  a  man  as  he  should 
have  denied  the  Lord  who  had  bought  him, 
and  blasphemed  the  name  of  the  high  God 
who  had  loved  him,  and  was  willing  to 
redeem  him — these  were  the  things  that 
bore  upon  his  conscience.  There  are  dis- 
tinct traces  of  this  shadow  over  his  soul 
throughout  his  utterances.  The  second 
thing  we  must  bear  in  mind  in  trjang  to 
estimate  aright  this  seemingly  exaggerated 
statement  is  that  in  his  present  conscious- 
ness Paul  realized  his  weakness  and  his 
natural  and  inherent  sinfulness.  That  he 
had  been  capable  of  such  outrageous  sin 
in  the  past  shows  that  he  had  the  possi- 
bility still  in  himself  of  being  what  he  had 
been.  Converted  and  changed  indeed  he 
was,  but  still  he  was  Saul  of  Tarsus  though 
changed  into  Paul  the  Apostle.  It  was 
not  his  own  goodness,  but  the  grace  of 
God  that  kept  him  now.  But  for  that 
grace,  and  in  himself  alone  he  still  is  what 
he  was ;  the  first  of  sinners. 

Such  an  experience  is  not  without  other 
notable  examples.  Many  of  the  greatest 
saints  of  history,  after  their  conversion, 
have  felt  precisely  as  Paul  did.  Still  so 
conscious  of  their  weakness  and  so  un- 


THE  FAITHFUL  SAYING       135 

forgetting  of  tlieir  past,  they  bear  with 
them  ever  the  deep  and  poignant  conscious- 
ness of  sin  and  ill  desert.  In  fact  it  is 
scarcely  possible  for  an  unconverted  sin- 
ner to  feel  himself  to  be  as  sinful  as  he 
really  is.  Usually  the  chief  of  sinners, 
before  conversion,  makes  excuses  to  him- 
self and  others  for  his  sins.  He  is  cheer- 
fully no  worse  than  the  rest  of  mankind; 
in  some  respects  he  may  consider  himself 
even  better  than  the  average.  Doubtless 
Saul  of  Tarsus  himself  did  this,  and  the 
memory  of  his  former  pride  only  struck 
deeper  the  sting  of  his  present  conscious- 
ness of  sin.  One's  sense  of  guilt,  strange 
as  it  may  seem,  grows  in  intensity  with 
the  growth  of  his  holiness  and  the  sense 
of  God's  pardoning  love.  The  better  a 
man  becomes  and  the  more  deeply  sensi- 
ble of  the  divine  grace,  the  more  keenly 
does  he  feel  his  own  sinfulness.  There  is 
no  sadder  contradiction  in  religious  expe- 
rience than  pride  of  pardon.  This  is  the 
opposite  of  what  we  are  trying  here  to 
describe. 

It  is  only  this  deep  consciousness  of  sin 
that  can  really  appreciate  the  value  of  the 
faithful  saying  that  "Christ  Jesus  came 
into  the  world  to  save  sinners."    This  is 


136       THE  FAITHFUL  SAYING 

what  we  all  ought  to  do.  Whether  we  are 
saved  sinners  or  still  unsaved  makes  no 
great  difference  as  to  this  point.  Our 
business  is  to  feel  our  sins.  Surely  apart 
from  all  comparison  or  foolish  pride  they 
are  enough  in  number  and  degree  to 
humble  us  in  the  very  dust.  Be  it  ours 
to  take  our  place  by  the  side  of  this  great 
saint,  and  realize  wdth  him  that  we  are 
chief  among  sinners.  What  flimsy  ex- 
cuses can  we  render,  what  pitiful  compari- 
son with  others  can  we  make  that  will  shift 
the  real  burden  of  our  guilt?  Oh!  none, 
none.  Let  each  one  of  us  for  himself  learn 
to  think  of  his  own  past  sins  and  present 
sinfulness  as  the  main  thing  to  be  con- 
cerned with  in  order  that  we  may  fully 
understand  the  blessedness  of  this  faithful 
saying.  There  is  a  way  out.  Look  back  to 
that  gracious  and  beautiful  young  man 
who,  with  the  light  of  heaven  upon  his  face, 
walks  amid  the  multitudes  gathered  to 
witness  the  baptism  of  John  and  hear  the 
forerunner  say,  **  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God, 
which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world." 
The  very  chief  of  sinners  is  not  too  much 
of  a  sinner  to  be  saved  by  so  great  a 
Saviour. 


VIII 

THE  OPEN  SECRET  OF  A  GREAT 
LIFE 

"And  the  life  which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh  I  live  by  the 
faith  of  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved  me,  and  gave  himself  for 
me."     Gal.  2:20. 

IN  this  declaration  we  have  the  open 
secret  of  a  great  life.  The  underly- 
ing principle  and  the  inspiring  motive 
of  an  eminent  and  useful  career  are  here 
brought  to  view.  These  words  are  the  ex- 
pression of  a  sincere  and  loyal  soul.  They 
reveal  to  us  the  profoundest  conviction 
and  the  loftiest  experience  of  Paul,  the 
man  and  the  apostle.  The  beliefs  and  even 
the  opinions  of  a  man  are  best  judged  by 
the  fruits  they  bear  in  his  own  actions 
and  accomplishments,  and  conversely,  the 
actual  outcome  of  a  man's  life  points  back 
infallibly  to  the  inner  convictions  and 
motives  by  which  the  outward  life  has  been 
directed  to  its  highest  achievements.  No 
finer  example  of  this  truth  can  be  found 
in  religious  history  than  that  of  Paul.    In 

137 


138   SECRET  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE 

many  notable  passages  of  his  writings  he 
has  left  on  record,  in  vigorous  and  manly 
language,  clear  statements  of  those  intel- 
lectual and  moral  convictions  which  were 
the  guiding  principles  of  his  conduct.  The 
life  which  he  led  was  founded,  after  his 
conversion,  upon  the  facts  and  truths 
which  that  conversion  led  him  to  accept. 
The  doctrines  of  Paul  found  in  his  life- 
time many  opposers,  and  have  not  ceased 
to  meet  that  experience  in  all  subsequent 
times.  The  theological  and  philosophical 
aspects  of  those  teachings  do  not  here  con- 
cern us.  The  practical  outcome  of  Paul's 
beliefs  in  his  ovm  life  of  service  to  the 
world  is  the  point  we  now  have  in  view. 
Central  among  his  doctrines  was  that 
which  related  to  the  work  of  Christ  as  a 
Saviour  from  sin.  As  this  was  the  center 
of  his  thinking,  so  it  is  also  the  heart  of 
his  living.  And  this  view  of  the  matter 
finds  clear  and  admirable  expression  in 
the  words  of  the  text.  The  atoning  sacri- 
fice of  Christ,  accepted  by  personal  faith, 
is  the  open  secret  of  Paul's  wonderful  and 
glorious  life.  Three  distinctive  features  of 
that  life  are  suggested  by  the  glowing  lan- 
guage of  the  text.    First,  it  was  a  life  lived 


SECRET  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE    139 

under  the  usual  human  conditions;  and, 
secondly,  it  was  a  life  redeemed  from  the 
ordinary  by  the  outworking  of  a  great 
principle ;  and,  thirdly,  it  was  a  life  glori- 
fied in  its  response  to  the  highest  senti- 
ment. Let  us  dwell  upon  these  items  in  the 
order  given. 

7.  It  was  a  life  lived  under  the  usual 
human  conditions.  Paul  describes  it  as 
**the  life  which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh.'* 
The  statement  is  simple,  modest  and  frank. 
There  is  here  no  claim  to  the  extraor- 
dinary, the  miraculous,  the  spectacular. 
Paul's  consciousness  and  conscience  for- 
bade any  such  claim.  He  was  a  man  of 
like  passions  with  his  brothermen.  He 
lived  on  their  plane,  and  shared  their  ex- 
periences. His  was  a  common  though  not 
a  commonplace  life.  The  human  reality 
of  it  is  distinctly  asserted  in  the  statement. 
More  than  this,  there  is  suggestion  of  the 
weak  and  evil  element  of  human  existence 
in  the  mention  of  the  flesh. 

We  note  therefore  that  Paul's  life  in  the 
flesh  was  a  life  subject  to  human  weakness. 
Of  course  this  was  true,  and  readers  of 
the  Apostle's  writings  do  not  need  to  be 
told  that  in  many  another  place  besides 


140   SECRET  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE 

this  he  refers  to  his  natural  human  in- 
firmities. He  was  deeply,  intensely  con- 
scious of  these.  Not  even  in  his  highest 
moments  is  he  unaware  of  the  drawback 
and  the  distress  of  human  infirmity.  No 
sane  and  candid  man  can  feel  otherwise. 
''The  ills  that  flesh  is  heir  to"  are  our 
conscious  and  common  human  lot.  We 
need  not  grow  morbid  in  the  consciousness 
of  these,  but  neither  should  they  be  for- 
gotten nor  ignored.  Bodily,  mental  and 
moral  infirmity  is  the  hourly  experience 
of  us  all.  Our  consciousness  is  infested 
with  the  sense  of  weakness. 

We  must  also  remember  that  the  life  in 
the  flesh  is  one  of  sorrow  and  trial.  Dis- 
appointments, burdens,  griefs  and  cares 
multiply  upon  us  daily.  No  man  can  live 
a  life  worth  anything  without  his  ample 
portion  of  these.  This  was  true  of  Paul. 
Pathetically  he  tells  us  that  what  was  lack- 
ing in  the  sutfcring  of  Christ  was  made  up 
in  himself.  Like  his  divine  Master,  he  too 
was  ''a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted 
with  grief."  Wounds  of  friends,  per- 
secution of  enemies,  disappointments  of 
aim,  all  were  his.  Sickness  and  grief  and 
death  shadowed  his  soul.    He  was  not  im- 


SECRET  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE   141 

mune  from  the  griefs  which  distress  the 
average  human  life. 

Again  we  must  remember  that  the  life 
in  the  flesh  is  a  life  of  temptation  and  of 
sin.  In  the  seventh  chapter  of  Romans 
Paul  lays  bare  the  intensity  of  his  per- 
sonal struggle  with  sin.  He  claimed  no 
faultless  perfection  for  himself.  Tempta- 
tion without  and  evil  tendency  within  made 
his  conscious  life  a  fight.  The  moral 
athlete  in  him  was  engaged  in  a  constant 
bout  to  buffet  his  body,  and  bring  it  into 
subjection.  The  manliest  struggle  in  the 
world  is  the  conflict  with  personal  sin. 
The  most  crushing  and  humiliating  de- 
feats, and  the  most  joyful  and  triumphant 
victories  are  found  on  this  field.  No  one 
has  described  in  stronger  or  more  impres- 
sive language  than  has  Paul  himself  this 
double  aspect  of  the  struggle  with  sin: 
"0  wretched  man  that  I  am!  Who  shall 
deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death? 
I  thank  God,  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord."  We  thus  see  what  in  the  conscious- 
ness of  Paul  the  life  in  the  flesh  meant.  It 
corresponds  with  the  universal  human  ex- 
perience. It  is  what  modern  philosophy 
teaches  us  to  call  "divided  self."    It  is 


142   SECRET  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE 

the  common  human  life  of  weakness,  suf- 
fering and  sin.  But  happily  the  descrip- 
tion does  not  end  here.  There  is  more, 
and  much  more  to  say  of  this  life,  though 
it  be  lived  in  the  flesh. 

II.  It  was  a  life  redeemed  from  the  or- 
dinary by  the  outworking  of  a  great  prin- 
ciple. This  is  found  in  the  statement,  ''I 
live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God."  A 
life  of  weakness,  suffering  and  sin  need 
not  be  a  lost  and  unworthy  or  fruitless 
life.  There  is  a  way  to  rescue  such  a  life 
from  the  ruin  it  would  mean  if  only  these 
human  elements  found  place  in  it.  It  is 
precisely  here  that  we  find  the  greatness 
and  the  glory  of  Paul 's  life,  viz. :  that  be- 
ing a  common  human  life,  it  was  yet  made 
uncommon  in  its  excellence  and  value  by 
the  coming  into  it  of  a  counteracting 
force.  The  ordinary  human  life  may  be 
made  extraordinary  by  the  incoming  and 
governing  of  a  great  principle.  Paul 
leaves  us  at  no  loss  concerning  what  that 
principle  was  in  his  own  case.  And  his 
experience  has  been  multiplied  in  millions 
who  have  shared  his  experience  in  divine 
grace  and  power. 

Let  us  notice,  as  a  matter  of  interpreta- 


SECRET  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE   143 

tion,  the  simplicity  of  the  statement  hero. 
Paul  does  not  say  by  faith  in  the  Son  of 
God,  but  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God. 
Of  course  he  does  not  mean  the  personal 
faith  which  the  human  Jesus  exercised  for 
himself  (Heb.  2:13),  but  the  faith  which 
the  believer  reposes  upon  Christ  as  his 
Saviour.  The  change  from  the  usual 
phraseology  only  makes  more  emphatic 
and  definite  the  personal  relation  of  the  be- 
liever to  his  Lord.  His  faith  in  the  Re- 
deemer is  not  only  his.  It  is  his  Lord's 
also.  Jesus  is  at  once  the  source,  the 
object  and  the  owner  of  the  faith  which 
saves  the  trusting  soul. 

Now  let  us  see  how  this  great  principle 
works.  As  a  matter  of  experience  and  ob- 
servation, any  life  becomes  significant  and 
great  in  proportion  to  the  greatness  and 
value  of  the  things  outside  of  itself  upon 
which  it  lays  hold.  That  which  lifts  the 
ordinary  above  itself  is  some  great  thing 
toward  which  it  reaches,  and  to  which  it 
clings  beyond  itself.  The  truly  great  soul, 
as  Browning  suggests,  greets  the  unseen 
with  a  cheer.  In  all  the  realm  of  human 
thought  and  endeavor  this  is  true.  The 
discoverers  are  they  who  look  further  out 


144   SECRET  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE 

and  on.  The  captains  of  industry  and  the 
magnates  of  finance  are  those  who  believe 
in,  and  lay  hold  upon  something  out  of  the 
common  range.  The  empire  builders  are 
those  who  are  confident  of  greater  things 
beyond  and  above  the  present  hour  and 
place.  Trust  in  something  great  that  lies 
beyond  actual  contact  and  achievement 
uplifts  and  dignifies  life.  In  this  phase  of 
its  working,  faith  is  closely  allied  to 
imagination.  Indeed,  it  may  almost  be 
identical  with  it.  The  eleventh  chapter  of 
Hebrews  shows  how  the  heroes  of  faith 
were  those  who  looked  and  reached  to  the 
greater  things  beyond. 

Faith  in  God  is  the  mainspring  of  the 
spiritual  life.  And  this  great  truth  be- 
comes very  definite  in  Paul's  language 
here.  It  was  not  the  vague  acceptance  of 
an  infinite  power,  however  good  that  is, 
as  a  philosophic  concept;  nor  even  the 
clearer  and  stronger  trust  in  a  great  per- 
sonal God,  a  Providence,  a  Governor,  a 
Lord;  nor  even  the  glorious  and  sublime 
Hebrew  faith  in  Jehovah,  the  God  of 
Israel  and  of  mankind.  It  w^as  all  these 
and  the  yet  more  which  dwelt  in  Paul's 
thought,  consciousness  and  hope  as  em- 


SECRET  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE    145 

bodied  and  expressed  in  Jesus,  the  Son  of 
God.  It  is  a  grand  saying — ' '  I  live  by  the 
faith  of  the  Son  of  God."  How  much  for 
the  individual  and  for  the  race  is  com- 
pressed and  expressed  in  that  terse  say- 
ing. The  historic  Christ,  the  divine  Christ, 
the  living  Christ  is  here  in  the  fullness  of 
his  revelation  of  God,  in  the  glory  of  his 
perfect  person,  in  the  power  of  his  divine 
being.  We  have  lost  the  freshness  and  the 
wonder  of  this  great  conception.  Let  us 
try  anew  to  realize  the  depth  and  height 
of  this  great  truth.  God  in  Christ  making 
himself  known  to  men.  God  in  Christ 
bringing  men  back  to  himself.  This  is 
the  thought.  Men  struggling  through 
weakness,  sorrow  and  sin,  taking  into  the 
very  innermost  recesses  of  their  being 
Jesus,  the  Son  of  God,  to  be  trusted  with 
entire  surrender  of  self  to  his  care.  The 
faith  of  the  Son  of  God  is  nothing  less  than 
this.  And  thus  it  is  that  it  becomes  the 
uplifting  power  for  all  human  life,  as  well 
as  for  every  individual  that  will  enter  into 
this  blessed  relation.  We  need  not  expect 
to  be  as  great  or  as  useful  as  Paul,  but  the 
faith  which  sustained  him  can  strengthen 
ns.     The  faith  that  lifted  his  life  above 


146   SECRET  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE 

the  low  level  of  common  liiimanity  can  lift 
ours  above  the  average.  Multiplied  thou- 
sands of  believers  less  noble  than  Paul 
have  been  rendered  in  their  own  sphere 
and  place  efficient  and  fruitful  by  the  out- 
working of  this  same  principle. 

///.  It  was  a  life  glorified  in  its  response 
to  the  highest  sentiment.  This  is  brought 
out  in  the  w^ords  '*Who  loved  me,  and  gave 
himself  for  me."  That  great  truth  which 
was  the  central  object  of  Paul's  faith,  was 
also  the  controlling  motive  of  his  life. 
The  atoning  self-sacrifice  of  Christ  was  to 
him  the  central  point  in  the  gospel  as  a 
faith.  That  the  Son  of  God  should  love 
a  man  enough  to  die  for  him  is  surely  all 
sufficient  reason  why  the  ransomed  life 
should  be  devoted  to  the  benefactor.  Paul 
makes  a  personal  matter  of  it.  None  could 
be  more  ready  than  he  to  recognize  and 
to  rejoice  in  the  world-wide  work  of  Christ 
in  his  saving  power.  God  so  loved  the 
world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son. 
But  that  great  truth  becomes  a  personal 
possession  in  the  consciousness  of  the  re- 
deemed soul.  There  is  no  selfishness  in 
this.  It  is  only  the  necessary  personal  ap- 
propriation of  that  wliich  avails  for  all,  is 


SECRET  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE    147 

sufficient  for  all.  My  own  appropriation 
of  it  hinders  no  one  else,  and  makes  me 
desirous  to  share  it  with  all  whom  I  can 
reach.  It  is  perfectly  right  for  each  of 
us  to  say  with  Paul,  "He  loved  me,  and 
gave  himself  for  me."  This  intensifies 
while  it  makes  real  the  glorious  truth  of 
the  gospel. 

The  truth  thus  personally  appropriated 
becomes  the  grand  motive  of  the  Christian 
life.  Men  are  moved  to  their  most  stren- 
uous endeavors  by  sentiment  more  than  by 
intellectual  process.  It  is  what  we  feel 
rather  than  what  we  think  which  moves  us 
to  action.  This  is  true  both  ways.  Both 
our  worst  deeds  and  our  best  are  the 
products  of  feeling  rather  than  of  thought. 
Let  us  not  under-rate  the  intellectual.  We 
need  it  to  restrain  emotion  and  to  guide 
our  feelings  and  to  justify  the  actions 
which  have  been  produced  by  feeling.  But 
after  all,  great  deeds  are  usually  the  ex- 
pression of  high  emotion.  Take  the  great 
and  important  events  and  issues  of  life. 
Reasoning  may  lay  plans,  produce  argu- 
ments, calculate  effects,  but  it  takes  the 
sparJi  of  feeling  to  start  the  machinery  and 
the  motive  power  of  sustained  enthusiasm 


148   SECRET  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE 

to  carry  great  enterprises  tlirougli.  This 
is  true  all  the  way  from  personal  ex- 
periences to  great  national  movements. 
Remember  the  Spanish  War  of  1898. 
Everything  had  been  reasoned  out  why  the 
miserable  Spanish  regime  in  Cuba  should 
be  ended.  It  had  become  intolerable.  It 
was  the  explosion  that  blew  up  the  Maine 
that  sent  the  thrill  through  the  country 
and  moved  the  United  States  to  immediate 
action.  In  every  human  life,  in  every 
family,  in  every  community,  illustrations 
abound. 

The  greatest  of  all  sentiments  is  love. 
Love  realized,  accepted,  appreciated  and 
returned;  this  is  the  great  force.  Take 
two  cases.  Mother  love  is  not  intellectual, 
but  sentimental.  A  mother  does  not  need 
to  justify  by  rational  processes  the  over- 
mastering instinct  of  love  for  her  off- 
spring. She  never  reasons  out  her  duty 
to  love  and  care  for  her  children.  She 
does  not  need  to.  Take  the  pure  and 
tender  love  of  sex.  A  young  man  would 
be  extremely  foolish  to  try  to  win  his  love 
with  syllogism.  Surely  such  love  should 
be  rational,  guided  and  sustained  by  in- 
tellectual process,  by  good  sense,  but  if  it 


SECRET  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE    149 

should  be  a  reasoning  process  only,  it 
would  always  be  a  failure.  So  in  a  thou- 
sand ways  we  know  that  the  love  motive, 
while  it  ought  to  walk  hand  in  hand  with 
reasoning  as  a  guide,  is  really  the  moving 
power  for  the  great  influences  in  life. 

The  greatest  love  is  the  love  of  God. 
Wonderful  is  that  saying  ''God  is  love." 
Wonderful,  too,  the  divine  announcement 
that  ' '  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave 
his  only  begotten  Son."  When  this  comes 
into  the  life  of  any  human  being  it  should 
be  at  once  the  ranking  motive.  With  Paul 
it  was  so.  Elsewhere  he  writes,  *'The  love 
of  Christ  constraineth  us,  because  we  thus 
judge  that  if  one  died  for  all,  then  all  died : 
And  he  died  for  all  that  they  who  live 
should  live  no  longer  for  themselves,  but 
for  him  who,  on  their  behalf,  died  and  rose 
again."  The  love  of  God,  nay,  we  may 
say,  the  God  who  is  love,  came  personally 
into  human  experience  generally,  into 
Paul's  particularly,  as  ''The  Son  of  God 
who  loved  me,  and  gave  himself  for  me." 
That  divine-human  love  of  Jesus,  revealing 
itself  at  its  perfection  of  power  in  the 
cross,  abides  forever  the  main  motive  of 
the   Christian  life.     When  lesser  things, 


150  SECRET  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE 

which  should  be  subordinate,  take  the  place 
of  this,  our  Christian  living  and  our  Chris- 
tian working  always  suffer.  We  do  our 
best  as  individuals  and  as  churches  and  as 
larger  groups  when  we  consciously,  and  to 
the  limit,  work  under  the  inspiring  motive 
of  loving  the  Christ  who  loved  us  unto  the 
end. 

If  an  infant  could  say  for  itself  what 
we  may  say  for  it  from  the  moment  of  its 
sweet  entrance  upon  life,  it  would  say,  "I 
live  by  trusting  one  who  loves  me."  As 
we  grow  through  youth  into  maturity,  and 
strive  through  middle  age  into  tottering 
childhood  again,  we  can  only  repeat,  **I 
live  by  trusting  those  who  love  me."  So 
for  the  Christian  soul,  from  the  moment  of 
its  glad  and  conscious  acceptance  of  Jesus 
the  Saviour,  through  all  the  experiences, 
bright  or  dark,  of  the  unfolding  Christian 
life,  it  can  only  say,  *'I  live  by  trusting 
him  who  loved  me." 

Thus  has  Paul  written  for  us  the  perfect 
sketch  of  a  true  Christian  life.  Be  it  ours 
to  make  our  own  the  experience  here  set 
forth.  We  need  not  feel  discouraged  or 
reluctant  in  making  the  attempt  to  realize 
his  words  in  our  own  case  by  the  obvious 


SECRET  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE   151 

distance  which  lies  between  ourselves  and 
the  great  Apostle.    Let  us  remember  that 
he  says  elsewhere,  ''Be  ye  imitators  of  me 
as  I  am  also  of  Christ."    Each  one  of  us, 
in  his  own  measure  and  within  his  own 
limitations,  can  reduce  to  reality  the  splen- 
did ideal  here   set  before  us.     Privilege 
means  possibility,  and  possibility  means 
duty.    No  Christian,  however  humble,  can 
do  more,  none  ought  to  attempt  less,  than 
to  live  his  life  according  to  the  outline  here 
so  glowingly  proposed.     Seeking  the  aid 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  praying  daily,  guarding 
our  thoughts,  let  each  of  us  be  able  to  say 
with  all  earnestness  and  sincerity,  ''The 
life  which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh  I  live  by 
the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved  me, 
and  gave  himself  for  me." 


IX 

CHRIST  THE  CORNER-STONE 

"Jesus    Christ    himself    being    the    chief    corner-stone."    Eph. 
2:20. 

THE  foundation  and  progress  of  a 
building  is  a  fit  and  striking  figure 
whereby  to  set  forth  the  entrance 
and  growth  of  religious  truth  in  human 
character  and  history.  The  life  and  work 
of  Jesus  instituted  a  new  and  fruitful  era 
in  the  religious  history  of  mankind.  For 
though  the  unseen  God  had  declared  him- 
self "in  many  parts  and  in  many  ways" 
in  the  life  and  literature  of  his  chosen 
people  of  Israel,  he  made  a  fuller  revela- 
tion in  the  person  and  teachings  of  his 
Son,  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Those  who 
accepted  for  themselves  the  divine  mission 
and  character  of  the  Saviour,  and  became 
by  reason  of  their  own  deep  convictions  the 
means  of  passing  on  the  truth  to  others, 
constituted  or  laid  the  foundation  of  that 
spiritual  edifice  of  truth  and  influence  that 
has  arisen  and  grown  under  the  name  of 
the  Christian  religion.  In  his  remarkable 
saying  to  Simon,  "Thou  art  Peter  and  on 

152 


CHRIST  THE  CORNER  STONE    153 

this  rock  I  will  build  my  churcli,"  Christ 
had  himself  used  the  figure  that  is  more 
fully  elaborated  here.     If  he  meant,   as 
some  hold,  that  upon  Peter  himself,  not 
exclusively   but   representatively,   his   re- 
ligion was  to  be  founded,  it  was  equivalent 
to  saying  that  upon  the  character  and  work 
of  Peter  and  the  others  as  believers  in 
himself  was  his  church  to  be  built.    And 
this  meaning  is  carried  out  in  the  present 
passage,   where   those   who   accepted   the 
truth  are  said  to  be  ''built  upon  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Apostles  and  Prophets."    For 
by  "Prophets"  here  are  meant  not  those 
of  the  old  Testament,  but  those  of  the  New, 
the    companions    and    colaborers    of    the 
Apostles.    It  is  as  if  Paul  would  say,  these 
are  the  foundation;  you,  and  all  like  you 
who  receive  the  truth  they  proclaimed,  are 
the  growing  building.     Or,  if  we  put^  the 
other  accepted  interpretation  upon  Ohist's 
words  to  Peter,  and  say  that  he  meant  by 
the  "rock"  the  confession  of  Peter  as  to 
his  divine  origin  and  mission,  we  shall  find 
a  parallel  to  that  view  here  also  in  saying 
that  "the  foundation  of  the  Apostles  and 
Prophets"   is   not   the   persons   of   these 
worthies  but  the  foundation  which  they  laid 
in  their    preaching  of  the  gospel.     I  in- 


154    CHRIST  THE   CORNER  STONE 

cline  to  the  latter  view  throughout.  But 
waiving  the  question  of  exact  interpreta- 
tion, in  either  case  Christ  is  the  ''chief 
Corner-stone."  This  Jesus  had  not  said 
of  himself,  but  Paul  does  not  omit  to  say 
it.  Christ  is  himself  the  vital  element  of 
the  religion  which  Apostles  taught  and 
which  all  true  Christians  have  received 
from  them.  Or,  to  go  back  to  the  figure, — 
of  that  noble  edifice  of  spiritual  truth  and 
life,  whose  foundations  were  laid  by  the 
Apostles,  and  whose  stately  structure  has 
grown  through  all  the  ages  since  their  day, 
Jesus  Christ  himself  abides  the  chief 
corner-stone.  It  is  not  only  the  memory 
of  a  departed  Christ  that  gives  strength 
and  stability  as  of  a  firm  corner-stone ;  but 
it  is  also  the  supporting  power  of  a  still 
living  and  now  reigning  Christ  that  pre- 
serves the  structure  from  irretrievable 
fall.  In  other  words,  Christ  is  still  the 
mainstay  of  the  Christian  religion,  both  in 
the  abiding  results  and  influences  of  his 
earthly  life,  and  in  the  present  and  eternal 
power  of  his  heavenly  reign. 

The  leading  outlines  of  the  glorious 
edifice  thus  founded  and  sustained  have 
been  sketched  by  a  masterhand:  ''Now 
abideth  faith,   hope,  love;  these   three." 


CHRIST  THE   CORNER  STONE    155 

These  are  the  principal  elements  of  the 
religion  of  Jesus.  When  centered  in 
Christ  as  their  origin  and  support,  and 
when  mutually  interactive  and  effectively 
combined,  ''these  three"  constitute  the 
sum  and  substance  of  Christianity.  They 
are  the  vital  necessities  of  any  true  and 
worthy  religious  life,  and  growth.  Let  our 
present  concern  be  the  pregnant  considera- 
tion, that  as  faith,  hope  and  love  are  es- 
sential to  religion,  so  is  Christ  essential  to 
them.  No  faith  to  live  and  die  by  apart 
from  him ;  no  hope  worth  the  having,  that 
does  not  rest  on  him;  no  love  that  "bear- 
eth  all  things,  believeth  all  things,  hopeth 
all  things,  endureth  all  things,"  except  it 
be  the  ''love  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus." 

I.  Faith.  One  of  the  great  motive 
forces  in  life  is  faith.  In  its  many  forms, 
and  varying  with  its  objects  and  its 
strength,  this  deep  rooted  principle  of  our 
nature  is  a  busy  and  a  mighty  worker.  In 
religion  and  the  closely  related  matters  of 
morals  and  science,  its  power  and  value 
are  untold.  The  Bible  recognizes  it  as  in- 
dispensable in  religion.  It  touches  most 
deeply  and  vitally  the  sphere  of  practical 
and  daily  morals.  It  goes  hand  in  hand 
with  knowledge.    It  is  not  knowledge,  but 


156    CHRIST  THE  CORNER  STONE 

it  rests  on  partial  knowledge.  It  is  not 
reason,  and  yet  it  is  not  necessarily  irra- 
tional. While  pervading  and  influencing 
the  whole  nature  of  man,  it  is  yet  chiefly 
concerned  with  the  intellect.  It  is  founded 
on  knowledge,  justified  by  reason,  and 
glorified  by  imagination.  It  is  the  motive 
power  in  religious  acceptance,  practice  and 
extension.  It  builds  where  doubt  destroys, 
strengthens  where  doubt  benumbs.  It 
sees  enough  where  skepticism  is  blind,  and 
credulity  sees  too  much. 

Christ  is  the  corner-stone  of  a  complete 
religious  faith,  because  he  is  at  once  its 
object  and  its  inspiration.  He  is  ever  pre- 
senting himself  as  its  object,  and  in  words 
of  later  date  than  his  own,  he  is  described 
as  ''the  Author  and  Finisher  of  our  faith." 
He  is  the  foundation  of  a  rational  religious 
faith,  because  he  is  fully  worthy  of  it ;  and 
of  a  true  religious  faith,  because  his  de- 
mands on  it  are  not  extravagant.  Faith 
has  three  enemies:  no  faith,  wrong  faith, 
and  over  faith.  It  is  liable  to  injury  by 
defect,  perversion  and  excess;  and  the 
names  of  these  are,  skepticism,  heresy  and 
superstition.  Christ  i3  the  corner-stone  of 
faith  accordingly,  because  he  offers  the 
best  refuge  against  these  foes. 


CHRIST  THE  CORNER  STONE    157 

1.  As  against  utter  skepticism  he  offers 
in  himself  a  sure  and  worthy  object  of  re- 
ligious confidence.  But  for  having  Christ 
to  believe  in,  true  religious  faith  would 
have  long  been  lost.  Mill  has  said  that; 
**the  rational  attitude  of  a  thinking  mind 
toward  the  Supernatural,  whether  in 
natural  or  in  revealed  religion,  is  that  of 
skepticism  as  distinguished  from  belief  on 
the  one  hand,  and  from  atheism  on  the 
other."  Jesus  says,  ''Let  not  your  heart 
be  troubled;  believe  in  God  and  believe  in 
me."  He  would  refute  an  irrational 
skepticism,  by  presenting  the  one  worthy 
object  of  a  reasonable  faith.  Utter  unbe- 
lief is  not  a  good  state  of  mind  for  a 
rational  man.  Absolute  skepticism  is 
scarcely  a  possible,  though  an  imaginable 
position.  If  fully  carried  out  it  ends  in 
absurdity;  it  would  deny  all  know^ledge  and 
doubt  even  self.  Let  the  perplexed  mind 
come  away  from  the  Cimmerian  darkness 
of  skepticism  and  calmly  and  reasonably 
rest  by  faith  in  Jesus.  We  need,  even  now, 
the  saving  presence,  the  conservative  in- 
fluence of  Christian  faith  to  prevent 
science  itself  from  committing  suicide. 
Christ  yet  abides  worthy  of  confidence. 

2.  As  against  the  perversions  of  faith 


158    CHRIST  THE   CORNER  STONE 

both  in  theory  and  practice,  Christ  is  the 
best  safeguard.  From  the  wrangle  of 
dogma,  and  the  heavy  inferences  of  human 
logic,  we  need  to  get  back  oftentimes  to 
the  simplicity  that  is  in  Christ.  For  all 
false  doctrine,  he  is  himself  the  best  an- 
tidote. To  sit  at  his  feet  and  learn  of  him 
is  far  better  than  to  seek  cart-loads  of 
rubbish  in  the  way  of  human  additions  and 
distortions  of  his  teachings.  So,  too,  have 
deeds  of  dark  and  fearful  cruelty  been 
wrought  and  called  acts  of  faith ;  but  from 
such  dire  perversions  of  a  true  and  worthy 
faith  in  him,  he  is  himself  the  best  de- 
liverer. 

3.  As  against  the  wild  and  foolish  ex- 
tremes of  blind  credulity,  Christ  presents 
us  a  safe  and  sober  confidence  in  himself. 
In  the  pure  but  misapplied  name  of  faith 
unreason  has  been  worshiped,  and  vile 
orgies  of  superstition  and  crime  have  been 
held.  Real  faith  in  Christ  as  he  is,  op- 
poses all  ruinous  superstition  and  puts 
away  with  firm  and  vigorous  hand  the 
follies  of  a  too  eager  credulity. 

So  in  all  these  ways  does  true  faith  in 
Christ  do  its  blessed  work.  He  supports 
that  faith  as  its  corner-stone,  interposing 
a  check  to  extremes  everywhere.    To  the 


CHRIST  THE  CORNER  STONE    159 

intolerance  of  the  scornful  philosopher,  to 
the  cruelty  of  the  over  zealous  fanatic,  and 
to  the  darker  folly  of  the  credulous  votary 
of  superstition,  we  who  believe  in  Christ, 
can  oppose  a  safe  and  rational  resistance. 
Let  the  soul  come  out  of  these  things  to 
him,  and  find  a  sure  resting  place.  He  is 
best  guide  and  help  to  reason  in  her  search 
for  truth. 

II.  Hope.  We  may  endorse  as  a  general 
truth  the  oft  quoted  lines  of  Pope :  * '  Hope 
springs  eternal  in  the  human  breast."  It 
is  one  of  the  greatest  of  life's  great  powers. 
Its  gentle  sway  is  acknowledged,  its  great 
strength  confessed.  We  read  how  in  past 
ages  it  led  with  bright  and  happy  foot- 
step to  all  that  was  good ;  we  see  today  that 
it  puts  a  heightened  charm  on  all  that  is 
fair,  and  sheds  what  is  often  the  only  light 
on  that  which  is  dark.  We  must  not 
strangle  hope.  We  sometimes  find  it  poor 
living  at  best,  but  with  hope  gone  who 
could  live?  Pervading  and  animating  all 
life,  it  comes  with  a  force  and  loveliness 
peculiarly  its  own  to  take  its  place  in  the 
realm  of  religion.  It,  too,  may  enter  into 
and  move  the  whole  being,  but  its  special 
alliance  is  with  the  feelings.  It  gives  a 
joy   and   lightness   to   all   the   emotional 


160    CHRIST  THE   CORNER  STONE 

nature  as  it  is  engaged  and  used  in  the 
service  of  religion.  And  Christ  is  the 
corner-stone  of  hope  as  well  as  of  faith 
because  he  gives  to  it  a  sure  basis  and  high 
objects.  In  his  hands  hope  becomes  more 
what  it  ought  to  be.  It  will  scarcely  be 
denied  that  the  hopes  held  out  by  the 
Christian  religion  are  both  glorious  and 
good,  and  that  as  compared  with  other 
hopes  of  this  sort  they  are  most  worthy 
to  be  cherished.  We  can  see  this  more 
plainly  if  we  consider  that  hope,  too,  may 
suffer  from  denial,  or  falsehood,  or  ex- 
travagance. Now  Christ  is  hope's  corner- 
stone because  he  supports  a  true  and  good 
hope  amid  these  opposing  elements. 

1.  Men  have  sometimes  painfully  said, 
''There  is  no  hope."  In  other  things  as 
well  as  religion  have  these  sad  words  been 
spoken.  But  we  cannot  deny  that  there 
are  real  hopes  held  out  to  us  by  Christ. 
He  only  puts  our  religious  longings  on 
such  basis  of  positive  statement  as  to 
make  them  reasonable  hopes  instead  of 
idle  fancies. 

Despair  goes  with  unbelief,  but  hope 
walks  hand  in  hand  with  faith.  We  need 
hope's  counteracting  influence  against  the 
dark  spirit  of  the  times.     We  are  very 


CHRIST  THE   CORNER  STONE    161 

busy,  but  much  I  fear  we  are  not  as  hope- 
ful as  we  ought  to  be.  Everywhere  the 
dark  shadow  of  hopelessness  spreads  over 
us.  But  in  Christ,  0  despairing  soul! 
there  is  refuge,  a  ''sure  support  against 
despair." 

2.  Men  often  build  their  hopes  on  in- 
sufficient grounds,  or  cherish  delusive  ex- 
pectations. Thus  hope  also  is  marred  by 
perversion.  Against  this  we  plead  the  off- 
set of  the  hopes  that  are  in  Christ.  He 
is  the  giver  of  a  better  and  a  surer  hope 
than  any  other.  Let  us  correct  all  our  ex- 
pectation of  a  future  life,  all  our  longings 
for  a  better  life,  by  what  he  has  taught. 
Let  no  dangerous  delusions  usurp  the 
place  of  the  Christian's  sweet  hope.  Let 
that  blessed  influence  repose  on  the  word 
and  the  promises  of  Jesus. 

3.  Men  sometimes  cherish  vague  and  ex- 
travagant hopes,  not  clearly  drawn  from 
what  Christ  has  said,  but  made  of  their 
o^Ti  or  others'  visions  and  fancies.  For 
this,  too,  Christ  is  the  sure  corrective.  He 
restrains  all  extravagance,  and  remains 
himself  the  stable  basis  of  those  rational 
expectations  which  enter  into  the  Chris- 
tian's hope.  Both  for  this  life  and  for 
that  which  is  to  come,  the  best  hope  is  in 


162    CHRIST  THE  CORNER  STONE 

Christ.  Let  it  here,  and  here  only,  be 
sought;  for  here,  and  here  only,  will  it 
certainly  be  found.  So  of  hope,  also,  is 
Christ  the  chief  corner-stone. 

III.  Love.  AVe  sometimes  speak  of  love 
in  one  of  its  forms  as  "the  great  prin- 
ciple"; and  though  there  be  a  tinge  of 
flippancy  in  the  saying,  there  is  in  it  a 
better  element  of  truth.  In  its  various 
modes  of  being  and  action  love  is  one  of 
the  prime  elements  of  life.  In  religion  its 
place  is  assured.  There  is  no  need  here 
of  definition  or  explanation.  Taking  it  in 
the  broadest  sense  of  love  for  God  and 
man,  we  recognize  its  great  place  and 
power  in  any  true  religious  life.  It  needs 
not  to  be  said  how  truly  it  is  one  of  the 
very  fundamental  principles  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion.  Though,  alas!  it  must  with 
shame  be  owned  that  we  have  not  yet  seen 
its  full  power  displayed,  nor  its  blessed 
work  completely  carried  out.  Yet  it  re- 
mains true  that,  in  so  far  as  religion  is 
love,  Christ  abides  the  corner-stone  of  the 
fabric.  For  as  a  religious  principle,  love 
is  best  set  forth  in  Him.  His  teachings 
give  to  it  its  true  interpretation;  his  life 
affords  its  best  illustration,  his  promises 
its  noblest  end  on  earth  and  in  heaven. 


CHRIST  THE  CORNER  STONE    163 

1.  Jesus  gave  to  the  ** royal  law"  of  God 
emphatic  repetition  and  enforcement: 
**Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with 
all  thy  heart;  and  thy  neighbor  as  thy- 
self." He  endorsed  this  as  the  true  ex- 
planation of  love;  and  all  his  teachings 
are  instinct  with  this  thought. 

2.  In  his  life  of  loving  service  to  man, 
and  loving  duty  to  God,  Christ  has  given 
the  perfect  illustration  of  the  principle  he 
declared.  By  his  own  complete  realization 
of  the  ideal,  he  has  given  to  love  a  motive 
and  an  inspiration  forever.  Nowhere  else 
does  love  to  God  and  man  so  powerfully 
appeal  to  our  whole  being  as  in  the  life  and 
death  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

3.  In  his  promises  and  revelations, 
where  he  has  joined  hope  to  love,  Christ 
has  given  to  love  itself  a  worthy  aim  and 
offered  it  a  glorious  reward.  During  our 
present  life,  all  that  is  best  and  purest  in 
humanity  is  encouraged  here.  We  look 
for  the  best  times  on  this  earth  when  the 
principles  and  practice  of  Christian  love 
shall  be  in  the  ascendant.  Herein  is  of- 
fered to  men  a  surer  promise  of  earthly 
good  than  in  all  the  Utopian  schemes  of 
visionary  reformers.  Even  many  who 
have  rejected  faith  in  Christ  are  yet  try- 


164    CHRIST  THE  CORNER  STONE 

ing  to  hold  fast  by  his  love  as  the  best 
heritage  of  the  past,  the  surest  pledge  of 
the  future.  But  beyond  the  narrow  con- 
fines of  our  earthly  life  he  points  us  to  the 
completed  perfection  and  the  unhindered 
sway  of  love  in  a  better  life  whose  chief 
glory  shall  be  love's  realization.  So  is  he 
the  chief  element  in  love  as  it  is  manifest 
and  active  in  the  religious  life  of  men. 
Christ  both  makes  love  a  duty,  and  he  en- 
nobles it.  The  antidote  to  hatred,  the  best 
guide  to  love,  is  he.  Under  his  lead  it 
will  more  widely  extend  its  power  over 
men,  and  will  become  more  and  more  what 
it  ought  to  be.  More  powerfully  are  Chris- 
tians coming  to  realize  the  obligation  of 
love.  In  many  ways  we  see  the  token  of 
love's  coming  triumph.  Slowly  it  moves 
on  to  victory — but  it  moves!  All  moral 
and  religious  progress  here  on  earth  must 
have  this  element.  All  heavenly  joy  is  to 
be  wholly  sanctified  in  this  pure  presence. 
And  of  this  is  Christ  the  corner-stone! 
!  Faith,  hope,  love !  This  is  religion.  Of 
this  is  Christ  all  and  in  all.  The  fair  fabric 
rests  on  him  as  its  principal  support. 
They  help  each  other,  a  triple  column  sit- 
ting on  the  one  Foundation.  Faith  gives 
basis  to  hope,  and  motive  to  love; — hope 


CHRIST  THE  CORNER  STONE    165 

gives  joy  to  faith,  and  charm  to  love; — 
and  love  gives  back  again,  in  rich  measure, 
gentleness  to  faith  and  loveliness  to  hope. 
''And  the  greatest  of  these  is  love." 
Greater  than  faith,  because  when  faith 
gives  place  to  perfect  knowledge,  love  shall 
bless  the  consummation.  Greater  than 
hope,  because  when  hope  ends  in  posses- 
sion, its  best  fruition  is  itself  eternal  love. 
Greater  than  faith,  because  when  faith 
grows  dim  love  still  can  work;  greater 
than  hope,  because  when  even  hope  dies 
love  can  live.  Greater  than  both,  because 
they  are  earthly  necessities,  but  love  is  a 
heavenly  principle.  Greater  than  both, 
because  they  are  human  needs,  but  love  is 
a  divine  fulfilment.  Men  must  needs  have 
faith  and  hope ;  God  has  need  of  neither ; 
but  God  is  love. 

In  the  house  whose  corner-stone  we  lay 
today  may  Christ  be  set  forth  the  corner- 
stone of  faith,  hope  and  love;  may  many 
minds  here  be  reached;  many  hearts  here 
touched,  till,  in  heaven,  the  completed 
building  of  human  character  may  be  the 
holy  temple  of  our  God,  *' Jesus  Christ 
himself  being  the  chief  corner-stone." 


CHRISTIAN  LOVE  AND  ITS  MOTIVE 

"Be  ye  therefore  followers  of  God  as  dear  children  and 
walk  in  love,  as  Christ  also  hath  loved  us,  and  hath  given 
himself  for  us  an  offering  and  a  sacrifice  to  God  for  a  sweets 
smelling  savour."     Eph.   5:1,  2. 

THIS  text  is  full  of  great  thoughts. 
The  love  of  God,  the  acceptable 
sacrifice  of  Christ,  the  privileges 
and  consequent  duties  of  God's  children, 
all  are  more  or  less  distinctly  emphasized 
in  these  words. 

There  is  special  reference  to  love  as  the 
distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  Chris- 
tian life.  It  is  urged  upon  us  as  that 
quality  of  the  divine  character  which  we 
should  try  to  imitate.  It  is  enforced  by 
the  great  example  of  Christ.  We  may  con- 
sider the  text,  then,  as  setting  forth  the 
subject  of  Christian  love  and  the  motives 
to  its  exercise ;  and  the  thoughts  suggested 
may  be  arranged  under  the  two  general 
heads  of  exhortation  and  motive. 

I.  Exhortation.  *'Be  ye  followers  of 
God.  .  .  .  Walk  in  love."  It  is  the  same 
iexhortation  though  expressed  in  these  two 
ways.   At  the  close  of  the  previous  chapter 

166 


CHRISTIAN  LOVE  167 

the  Apostle  urges  his  readers  to  lay  aside 
*all  anger  and  wrath  and  clamor  and 
evil-speaking  with  all  malice,"  and  to  be 
''kind,  tender-hearted,  forgiving  one  an- 
other, even  as  God  for  Christ's  sake  hath 
forgiven  you."  Then  he  proceeds  in  the 
text,  ''Be  ye  therefore  followers  of  God." 
Imitators  of  God  would  perhaps  more  ac- 
curately express  the  sense. 

Though  God  be  so  far  above  us ;  though 
lie  be  the  Almighty,  the  All-wise,  the  All- 
good;  though  his  thoughts  are  higher  than 
our  thoughts  and  his  ways  higher  than 
our  ways;  we  are  yet  exhorted  to  be  like 
him.  Though  we  are  sinners  and  weak; 
;though  we  have  fallen  far  from  him,  and 
are  full  of  conscious  imperfection  we  must 
try  to  be  like  God.  It  is  truly  a  noble  and 
an  ennobling  thought  that  we  should  be 
God-like.  Though  fallen  from  the  image 
and  likeness  of  God  in  which  we  were 
created,  it  is  yet  our  privilege  and  our 
duty  by  God's  own  grace  assisted  to  try 
hard  to  regain  the  almost  effaced  impres- 
sion. To  be  like  God  is  the  highest  object 
:we  can  strive  for,  and  though  indwelling 
and  external  sin  makes  the  work  exceed- 
ingly difficult,  the  goal  is  worth  the  strife. 
Far  better  be  thus  employed  than  in  sui- 


168  CHRISTIAN  LOVE 

cidally  and  fatally  marring  the  blessed 
image  which  Christ  died  again  to  imprint ! 

It  is  true  we  can  only  imitate  God  in 
his  imitable  characteristics.  It  would  be 
idle  and  blasphemous  on  our  pigmy  scale 
to  attempt  to  imitate  God  in  everything. 
This  is  far  from  the  Apostle's  meaning. 
God  is  eternal,  omnipotent,  omniscient, 
omnipresent — of  course  we  cannot  imitate 
these  attributes.  Nor  can  we  imitate  his 
infinity  in  any  direction.  He  is  infinite  in 
all  qualities,  even  in  those  which  we  should 
strive  to  follow.  We  may  imitate  them  in 
hind,  we  cannot  in  extent.  But  we  can  and 
should,  to  the  full  measure  of  our  finite 
capacity,  resemble  the  divine  character. 
As  the  Scriptures  unfold  that  blessed 
character  to  us  in  all  its  divinely  engaging 
beauty  we  should  endeavor  to  apprehend 
and  copy  the  model  thus  set  before  us. 

Many  are  the  attributes  of  God  as  taught 
in  the  Book  of  his  truth.  But  one  among 
them  all  occupies  for  us  the  leading  place. 
It  is  at  once  the  most  intelligible  and  the 
most  imitable.  We  are  told  that  God  Jias 
>visdora,  power,  eternity,  holiness,  and 
others — but  God  is  love!  God  is  Love! 
Beautiful  form  of  speech!  Precious  dec- 
aration  of  truth!     Glorious  portraiture. 


CHRISTIAN  LOVE  169 

of  goodness.  God  is  love!  So  they  who 
would  be  God-like  must  be  loving.  This 
is  the  one  thing  in  God's  character  most 
emphasized  to  us.  It  is  that  quality  we 
can,  not  easily  I  know,  but  which  we  can 
daily  and  hourly  follow.  We  can  be  loving, 
aye,  we  must.  Toward  God  as  supreme, 
toward  Christ  as  Redeemer,  toward  men  as 
our  brothers  in  humanity  and  the  common 
objects  of  divine  regard  and  redeeming 
mercy,  we  must  be  loving.  **  Anger,  wrath, 
clamor,  evil-speaking,  with  all  malice ' '  must 
be  put  away.    Be  imitators  of  God! 

The  second  clause  of  the  exhortation 
brings  us  another  phase  of  the  subject: 
''Walk  in  love."  Let  love  be  the  dis- 
tinguishing feature  of  your  Christian  life. 
Tt  is  not  enough  that  we  should  be  emotion- 
ally and  impulsively  loving.  Not  enough 
that  while  we  sit  together  in  the  sanctuary 
5and  engage  in  the  devotions  of  the  place 
our  hearts  should  swell  with  love  toward 
the  great  Father  and  to  each  other.  Not 
enough  that  as  the  w^ord  of  God  is  brought 
to  us  and  enforced  upon  us  by  the  accredited 
minister  of  the  gospel  we  should  feel  our 
duty,  and  our  hearts  should  expand  under 
the  influences  thus  brought  to  bear  on  us. 
All  this  is  well,  but  it  is  not  enough.  ''Walk 


170  CHRISTIAN  LOVE 

in  love."  I  do  not  undervalue  feeling.  In 
my  heart  of  hearts  I  love  it,  and  long  for 
more  of  it  in  myself  and  others.  But  feel- 
ing Avithout  action  is  well  nigh  worthless. 
It  is  abortive.    ^'Walk  in  love." 

To  be  sure  the  converse  is  also  true. 
Mere  mechanical  sense  of  duty,  action 
without  the  warming,  quickening,  driving 
power  of  feeling  is  lame  and  feeble.  Let 
them  be  united,  combined  into  one  har- 
monious character.  Feel  loving,  and  do 
lovingly.  Let  those  who  are  deficient  in  feel- 
ing cultivate  that;  let  those  who  feel,  but 
don't  do  much,  not  fail  to  cultivate  action. 

Thus  only  shall  we  be  truly  God-like. 
If  he  feebly  felt  loving  only,  where  had 
we  been?  If  he  had  not  had  a  heart  to 
feel  and  to  pity  how  wretched  had  been 
our  lot!  Feeling  expressed  in  generous, 
prompt  and  energetic  action — action  urged 
and  directed  by  tender,  yet  deep  feeling, 
that  is  the  true  God-like  character. 

''Walk  in  love."  Yes;  let  that  be  the 
trait  by  which  our  daily  life  shall  be  most 
distinguished.  This  is  but  carrying  out  the 
thought  of  the  Master  when  he  said,  '*By 
this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  my 
disciples,  if  ye  have  love  one  to  another." 
It  is  but  expressing  in  the  way  of  exhorta- 


CHRISTIAN  LOVE  171 

tion  the  solemn  declaration  of  the  beloved 
disciple:  *'We  know  that  we  have  passed 
from  death  unto  life  because  we  love  the 
brethren." 

Doubtless  much  that  is  said  of  Christian 
love  is  sickly  drivel,  and  some  is  arrant 
nonsense.  But  that  sham  and  fanaticism 
should  give  us  any  distaste  for  the  real 
and  true  thing,  would  be  very  unfortunate. 
Christians  should  love  all  mankind,  espe- 
cially each  other.  This  is  scriptural.  But 
that  we  should  love  ''all  alike,"  as  it  is 
sometimes  said,  is  neither  scriptural  nor 
sensible  nor  possible.  There  was  among 
the  Twelve  "that  disciple  whom  Jesus 
loved."  All  are  not  worthy  of  the  same 
degree  or  kind  of  attachment.  We  may 
love  our  brethren  as  they  emphasize  in 
their  lives  special  graces.  We  may  love 
them  more  or  less  as  they  approach  or 
recede  from  the  divine  model.  But  this 
must  be  said,  that  wherever  likeness  to 
God  is  found,  there  should  our  Christian 
affections  go.  No  matter  how  lowly,  how 
poor,  how  far  beneath  us  in  the  perishing 
distinctions  of  earth,  the  person  may  be, 
if  in  the  character  we  recognize  likeness  to 
God,  we  should  not  withhold  our  love. 

"Beloved,  let  us  love  one  another,  for  love 


172  CHRISTIAN  LOVE 

is  of  God ;  and  every  one  that  loveth  is  born 
of  God  and  knoweth  God.  He  that  loveth 
not,  knoweth  not  God;  for  God  is  love." 
"Be  ye  followers  of  God— Walk  in  love." 

II.  Motive.  "As  dear  children  —  As 
Christ  also  hath  loved  us. ' '  We  have  here 
the  second  branch  of  our  subject;  the 
motive  by  which  love  is  urged  upon  the 
observance  and  practice  of  Christians. 
There  are  two  such  motives  presented  in 
the  text.  (1)  The  privilege  we  enjoy  as 
being  the  children  of  God,  and  (2)  the  per- 
fect example  of  our  Saviour. 

1.  "Be  ye  followers  of  God  as  dear  chil- 
dren," or,  be  imitators  of  God  as  (his) 
beloved  children.  As  children  of  God, 
Christians  enjoy  his  presence  graciously 
vouchsafed  to  them.  They  are  not  for- 
bidden, but  are  rather  encouraged  to  come 
to  him.  They  are  not  debarred  the  most 
familiar,  provided  it  be  reverential,  inter- 
course with  the  Most  High.  They  have 
every  facility  and  encouragement  which 
such  free  association  with  the  all-loving 
Father  can  give  to  adoring  imitation  of 
his  perfections.  Nor  is  this  all.  As  he- 
loved  children  they  enjoy  the  special  favor 
oi  God.  They  are  the  subjects  of  his 
(tender  regard  and  solicitude.    How  sweet 


CHRISTIAN  LOVE  173 

the  words  of  the  Psalmist,  ''Like  as  a 
father  pitieth  his  children  so  the  Lord 
pitieth  them  that  fear  him!"  How  help- 
ful the  admiring  exclamation  of  the  be- 
loved disciple.  "Behold  what  manner  of 
love  the  Father  hath  bestowed  upon  us, 
that  we  should  be  called  and  are  the  chil- 
dren of  God!" 

Beloved  children  would  fain  be  like  their 
father.  As  they  reverence  and  admire  him 
they  feel  that  the  best  evidence  of  their 
loving  admiration  is  to  be  as  much  like 
him  as  they  can.  Some  of  us  may  tenderly 
recollect  how  in  the  days  of  childhood  we 
looked  up  to  our  father,  and  he  was  our 
ideal  of  manly  excellence,  and  we  longed 
to  be  like  him.  What  a  blessing  is  a 
father's  love  when  it  is  backed  by  a  strong 
and  true  character.  There  is  but  one 
earthly  blessing  superior  to  it,  and  that 
we  recognize  as  its  companion  and  comple- 
ment— a  mother's.  God  pity  that  house- 
hold where  the  children  ought  not  to  be 
like  their  father !  God  have  mercy  on  that 
man  for  whose  children  the  best  wish  you 
could  make  is  that  they  should  be  as  un- 
like their  father  as  possible ! 

But  to  return.  If  we  were  outcasts  and 
{aliens  the  case  would  be  different,  but  as 


174  CHRISTIAN  LOVE 

we  are  the  beloved  children  of  God,  is  it 
asking  too  much  of  us  to  try  to  be  like 
him?  I  know  the  struggle  is  hard,  and 
sometimes  almost  despairing,  but  is  any 
struggle  too  great,  any  hardsliip  too  severe 
in  the  pursuit  of  an  object  like  this?  Let 
us  not  be  disheartened  by  the  failures  that 
w^e  make,  but  hopefully  and  bravely  strive 
on,  looking  eagerly  forward  to  that  blessed 
time  when,  the  struggles  over  and  the 
failures  forgotten,  ^'tve  shall  he  like  liim, 
for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is." 

2.  ''Walk  in  love,  as  Christ  also  hatli 
loved  us  and  hath  given  himself  for  us  an 
offering  and  a  sacrifice  unto  God  for  a 
sweet-smelling  savour."  We  have  here 
the  great  example  of  the  Elder  Brother  to 
stimulate  and  encourage  us  in  our  efforts 
to  be  God-like  in  the  practice  of  love.  As 
Christ  loved  us!  This  is  why  we  are  the 
children  of  God.  If  you  would  know  how 
it  is  that  we,  all  full  of  imperfection  and 
conscious  fault,  guilty  of  breaking  God's 
law  and  wanderers  from  his  mercy,  un- 
worthy, lost,  soiled  by  sin — how  we  are  yet 
the  children  of  God,  and,  more  than  that, 
beloved  children,  behold  the  explanation: 
Christ  hath  loved  us!  "Not  unto  us,  0 
Lord,  not  unto  us,  but  to  thy  name  give 


CHRISTIAN  LOVE  175 

glory!"  Who  can  tell  the  breadth,  and 
length,  and  depth,  and  height  of  that  sur- 
passing love?  May  we  humbly  try  to  com- 
prehend it,  and  as  we  grow  in  appreciation 
of  it,  to  grow  also  in  the  practice  of  un- 
selfish love  for  others. 

For  this  was  the  measure  of  Christ's 
love  to  us,  that  he  hath  given  himself  for 
us.    In  these  earthly  relations  where  love 
plays  a  prominent  part  we  easily  try  its 
genuineness  by  the  willingness  it  inspires 
to  make  personal  sacrifices  for  the  loved 
object.    What  do  you  parents  think  of  the 
love  of  your  children  if  they  are  unwilling 
to  give  up  sometimes  their  will  to  yours? 
What  do  children,  keen  observers  as  they 
are,  think  of  a  parent  who  lavishes  fond 
paresses,  but  makes  no  sacrifices  for  their 
pleasure?      Are   husbands    satisfied   with 
protestations    of   attachment   from   wives 
,who  do  not  deny  themselves  sometimes  for 
their  pleasure  and  comfort?    And  who  can 
fcay  how  grievous  is  the  disappointment  of 
a  loving  wife  when  she  finds  a  lack  of  self- 
denying  consideration  in  him  who  won  her 
heart  with  tender  speeches?    Everywhere 
jwe  feel  that  this  is  the  true  test  of  love. 
Judged  even  by  this  poor  human  stand- 
ard how  glorious  does  the  love  of  Christ 


176  CHRISTIAN  LOVE 

appear!  What  sacrifice  did  he  make  as 
the  evidence  of  his  love  to  us?  *'He  hath 
given  himself  for  us."  Well  did  he  say, 
"Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that 
a  man  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends." 

It  was  no  empty  gift,  but  ''an  offering 
and  a  sacrifice  to  God."  There  was  sin 
that  had  to  be  blotted  out  before  the  divine 
image  in  man  could  be  restored.  There 
was  a  great  distance  between  God  Al- 
mighty and  his  erring  and  fallen  creatures. 
The  breach  must  be  healed.  There  was  a 
broken  law,  holy  and  just  and  good.  Its 
penalties  must  be  met.  There  was  needed 
for  all  these  things  a  sacrifice  and  an  offer- 
ing to  God.  That  was  the  only  thing  that 
could  avail  to  accomplish  the  great  restora- 
tion. It  was  freely  given.  Not  by  com- 
pulsion, save  the  compulsion  of  his  own 
strong  love,  but  of  his  free  choice  Christ 
laid  down  his  life  for  us.  He  emptied  him- 
self of  his  glory.  He  became  a  man  like 
unto  us.  As  a  man  he  was  humiliated 
still.  He  accepted  death  itself.  All  be- 
cause he  loved  us  and  desired  to  restore 
in  us  the  image  of  God,  to  restore  to  us 
the  blessings  of  God's  children. 

Nor  was  the  sacrifice  vain.     It  accom- 
plished the  purpose  for  which  it  was  in- 


CHRISTIAN  LOVE  177 

tended.  It  was  to  God  ''a  sweet-smelling 
savour."  It  floated  from  this  polluted 
earth  as  incense  to  the  Holy  One.  It  shone 
from  this  sin-darkened  world  a  perfect 
righteousness.  It  satisfied  the  claims  of 
divine  justice,  it  gratified  the  feelings  of 
infinite  pity.  The  voice  of  divine  approval 
spoke  from  on  high:  ''This  is  my  beloved 
Son  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased."  It  was 
love's  offering,  and  it  did  love's  completest 
work.  It  rescued,  saved  and  sanctified 
those  whom  it  embraced. 

And  this  is  to  be  the  rule  of  our  conduct ! 
We  are  to  love  as  Christ  loved  us!  It  is 
an  ideal  so  lofty  that  we  may  well  feel  our 
weakness  when  we  look  upon  it,  but  we 
should  not  fail  to  try.  We  ought  not  to  wish 
for  a  lower  standard,  we  could  not  have  a 
higher  one.  Let  us  then  honestly  make  it 
the  rule  of  our  action  towards  our  fellow- 
men,  especially  those  who  have  obtained 
like  precious  faith  with  us ;  and  though  we 
may  often  fail,  let  us  have  the  happy  consci- 
ousness that  we  tried.  And  as  by  this  love- 
deed  of  Christ  we  are  made  through  faith 
the  children  of  God,  let  us  try  to  become 
more  and  more  like  our  Father,  being  fol- 
lowers of  him  as  dear  children.  May  he 
graciously  aid  us  in  the  attempt ! 


XI 

CRISIS  AND  CREED 

"Upon  this  many  of  his  disciples  went  back,  and  walked  no 
more  with  him.  Jesus  said  therefore  unto  the  twelve,  Would 
ye  also  go  away!  Simon  Peter  answered  him,  Lord,  to  whom 
shall  we  go?  thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life.  And  we  have 
believed  and  know  that  thou  art  the  Holy  One  of  God."  John 
6:66-69. 

THE  occasion  of  this  tender  but  search- 
ing inquiry  is  well  known.  After  the 
miraculous  feeding  of  the  five  thou- 
sand our  Lord,  and  many  of  his  disciples, 
recrossed  the  lake,  and  came  back  to 
Capernaum,  where  in  the  Synagogue  Jesus 
gave  the  address  reported  by  John  in  the 
6th  chapter  of  his  Gospel.  There  was 
great  excitement  in  the  multitude  over  the 
miracle.  Some  had  wished  to  force  Jesus 
to  declare  himself  as  the  Messiah,  and  set 
up  the  earthly  kingdom  of  Israel.  It  was 
necessary  to  curb  this  premature  excite- 
ment and  to  test  the  sincerity  of  those  who 
were  spiritually  won  as  disciples.  Whether 
this  direct  purpose  was  in  his  mind  or  not, 
the  result  of  our  Lord's  address  was  such 
a  testing.  He  charged  that  many  Avere 
following  him  only  for  the  miracle,  and 

178 


CRISIS  AND  CREED  179 

that  they  might  eat  of  the  bread  which  he 
could  supply  without  labor  to  themselves. 
So  he  declares  himself  to  be  the  bread 
which  came  down  from  heaven.  It  was 
not  material  bread,  but  spiritual,  which  he 
came  to  give.  Another  thing  they  must 
bear  in  mind.  The  impulse  to  make  a  king 
of  him,  under  whose  reign  bread  might 
be  had  for  nothing  must  be  set  aside. 
This  was  a  human  appetite,  not  a  divine 
inspiration.  Real  spiritual  yearnings  are 
kindled  from  God,  not  appetite.  Further- 
more, there  must  be  a  real  spiritual  as- 
similation of  himself.  As  men  live  by 
bread  so  they  should  live  by  him.  But  the 
material  is  only  symbolic  of  the  spiritual. 
The  statement  is  made  harsh  for  the  very 
purpose,  it  appears,  of  bringing  out  the 
real  nature  of  the  impulse  which  moved 
the  crowd  toward  discipleship.  Jesus  de- 
clared that  his  flesh  was  the  bread  to  be 
given  for  the  life  of  the  worli.  There 
many  of  the  listeners  stumbled  and 
scorned.  Jesus  goes  on  to  explain,  but 
the  explanation  involves  the  listeners  in 
further  difficulty.  Not  only  were  the  critics 
and  enemies  of  the  Master  aroused  by  this 
teaching,  but  many  of  his  disciples,  that 
is,  those  who  were  beginning  to  become 


180  CRISIS  AND   CREED 

personally  attached  to  him,  stumbled  at 
this  saying.  The  final  explanation  of  his 
obscure  and  seemingly  repulsive  teaching 
is  given  in  the  words,  *'It  is  the  Spirit  that 
quickoneth,  the  flesh  profiteth  nothing ;  the 
words  I  speak  unto  you  they  are  spirit, 
and  they  are  life. ' '  To  the  great  multitude 
this  clarifying  explanation  meant  nothing. 
This  is  the  situation  in  which  the  question 
and  answer  of  the  text  find  place.  It  was 
a  crisis  which  called  forth  a  creed. 

I.  The  Crisis.  It  was  a  crisis  for  the 
Master  himself.  He  had  not  come  to  set 
up  an  empire,  but  to  found  a  spiritual  king- 
dom. He  must  shake  off  those  who  could 
see  nothing  but  worldly  and  material 
things.  It  was  a  crisis  for  the  people  who 
listened.  They  were  brought  face  to  face 
with  the  opportunity  to  choose  the  spirit- 
ual rather  than  the  material.  It  must 
appear  whether  they  were  ready  for  the 
kind  of  fulfillment  of  prophecy  which  the 
work  and  teachings  of  Jesus  meant.  It 
was  a  crisis  for  the  sincere  and  yet  im- 
mature disciples,  who  were  nearest  to  their 
Lord;  who  had  begun  to  understand  the 
spiritual  side  of  his  mission  to  the  world, 
but  yet  had  lingering  longings  for  the 
(earthly  kingdom  of  Israel. 


CRISIS  AND  CREED  181 

The  crisis  was  brought  on  by  the  teach- 
ings already  noted.  The  words  ''from  that 
time"  mean  from  the  time  that  our  Lord 
declared  himself  the  bread  of  life,  and  in- 
sisted that  he  should  be  spiritually  re- 
ceived as  a  condition  of  the  soul's  life. 
They  rejected  this  teaching.  Their  action 
is  not  difficult  to  understand.  It  is  unhap- 
pily too  common  an  experience  not  to  be 
understood.  People  may  be  interested  to 
a  certain  extent  in  religious  things.  They 
may  have  some  impulses  toward  a  real 
communion  with  God,  and  some  desire  for 
spiritual  life,  but  the  minute  they  come  to 
a  real  test  they  fall  away.  When  our  Lord 
says,  ''Except  ye  eat  my  flesh  and  drink 
my  blood  you  have  no  life  in  you,"  they 
stumble  at  once  and  reject  the  condition 
proposed.  The  acceptance  of  the  atoning 
sacrifice  of  Christ  as  the  condition  of 
eternal  life  has  ever  been  a  stumbling- 
block  to  the  average  worldly  mind.  It  re- 
mains so  to  this  day.  A  real  spiritual 
union  with  Jesus  as  Saviour,  with  sur- 
render of  all  worldly  and  unspiritual 
principles  of  life  and  conduct,  is  still  a 
difficulty  in  the  way  of  thousands.  In  that 
multitude  there  were  "many  disciples" 
who  went  back  and  believed  no  more  in 


182  CRISIS  AND  CREED^ 

him.  These  are  fairly  typical  of  many  in 
all  ages,  not  omitting  our  own,  who  are 
attracted  by  many  features  of  Christian 
teaching,  but  stumble  at  the  cross  and  its 
meaning.  There  are  many  nominal  Chris- 
tians today,  and  many  making  no  profes- 
sion of  Christianity,  who  yet  admire  the 
character  of  Jesus,  and  believe  him  to  have 
been  the  greatest  and  best  of  all  religious 
teachers,  yet  when  brought  to  the  test  of 
actual  acceptance  of  him  as  divine  Lord 
and  redeeming  Saviour  will  have  naught 
to  do  with  him. 

Let  us  get  back  to  the  situation  at 
Capernaum.  When  the  superficial  and 
material  throng  were  irritated  and  began 
to  leave  him,  Jesus  turned  to  the  twelve 
and  asked,  "Will  ye  also  go  away?" 
There  is  both  pathos  and  power  in  the 
question.  It  was  not  a  whine,  a  complaint, 
but  the  searching  inquiry  of  a  Master. 
He  had  a  right  to  know.  He  brings  the 
issue  squarely  to  those  who  were  nearest 
to  him.  He  did  not  hesitate  nor  falter 
in  putting  them  to  the  test.  The  question 
is  prompt,  piercing,  and  final.  It  has  not 
in  it  the  element  of  despair,  which  expects 
a  negative  answer.  If  we  might  para- 
phrase the  language  somewhat  it  would  be 


CRISIS  AND  CREED  183 

as  much  as  to  say,  *'You  are  not  going  to 
leave  me  also,  are  youT'  Thus  the  ques- 
tion, while  affectionate  and  solicitous,  has 
in  it  no  element  of  doubt  except  as  is  later 
shown  in  the  case  of  Judas.  Jesus  knew 
that  he  could  depend  upon  the  fidelity  of 
eleven  out  of  twelve.  He  saw  that  the 
test  would  bring  out  the  reality  of  their 
attachment,  yet  the  test  itself  was  needed, 
and  was  fearlessly  made. 

The  lesson  is  needed  for  us  of  today. 
The  tides  of  influence  are  away  from  what 
we  are  accustomed  to  call  the  evangelical 
views  of  Jesus  and  his  work.  Instead  of 
making  him  a  king,  to  furnish  the  neces- 
saries of  life  for  nothing,  the  modern  mul- 
titude would  make  him  a  good  man;  a 
teacher  to  be  admired,  but  disobeyed.  In- 
deed in  some  quarters  the  tendency  to 
humanize  and  rob  him  of  true  spiritual  life 
and  power  has  become  positively  blas- 
phemous. The  testing  time  for  true  dis- 
ciples is  ever  upon  us.  We  can  imagine, 
if  we  will,  how  the  Lord  would  look  us 
each  in  the  face  and  ask  us  today,  ''Will 
ye  also  go  away?"  Shall  we  who  have 
found  him,  not  only  the  Messiah  of  whom 
Moses  and  the  prophets  did  write,  but  the 
Saviour  of  sinners,  and  the  Lord  of  life, 


184  CRISIS  AND  CREED 

forsake  him?  Shall  we  listen  to  the  con- 
fusing voices  that  deny  his  divinity,  his 
atonement,  his  resurrection,  his  glory,  his 
second  coming?  Let  us  make  a  personal 
matter  of  it.  Let  us  ask  ourselves  what 
Jesus  really  means  to  us.  Shall  we  go  with 
the  thousands  who  reject  him,  or  come  with 
the  few  who  love  and  trust  him?  The 
question  is  up.  It  is  always  up.  The  crisis 
is  on  us.  It  is  on  us  every  day  that  we 
live.  In  a  thousand  ways  the  searching 
inquiry  of  the  Master  comes  home  to  this 
generation,  and  to  the  heart  of  each  one 
of  those  who  claim  him  as  Saviour  and 
Lord.  What  shall  our  answer  be  when 
Jesus  wants  to  know  whether  we  will  fol- 
low the  multitude  and  leave  him? 

II.  The  Creed.  Peter,  speaking  for 
the  rest,  answers  our  Lord's  inquiry, 
**Will  ye  go  away."  He  promptly  pro- 
poses another  inquiry,  *'To  whom  shall  we 
go?"  This  was  practical  and  to  the  point. 
It  may  not  be  possible  to  discover  all  that 
was  in  Peter's  mind  when  he  promptly 
returned  this  response  to  the  Lord's  ap- 
peal. Still  we  can  see  some  of  the  alter- 
natives which  were  actually  open  to  the 
disciples,  whether  they  were  conscious  of 
them  or  not.     Let  us  see  what  some  of 


CRISIS  AND  CREED  185 

these   were.     If   they   refused  Jesus   as 
Teacher  and  Saviour  and  Lord,  to  what 
supposed  source  of  spiritual  life  and  power 
should    they    turn?     Would   they    go    to 
heathenism?    Probably  Peter  did  not  con- 
sider this  as  a  possible  alternative.     To 
the  Jews  there  was  no  pressing  temptation 
to  go  to  the  degraded  and  discredited  and 
variegated  heathenism  of  the  time.    That 
made  no  appeal  to  them,  but  it  was  an 
alternative  for  the  age  in  which  they  lived. 
To  some  extent  heathenism  is  an  alterna- 
tive to  the  gospel  even  now.    The  worship 
of  false  gods,   in  the   ancient   sense,  no 
longer   applies,  but  the  pursuit   of  vain 
fancies  has  never  yet  died  out.    Every  sort 
of  impostor  and  imposture  has  gained  a 
hearing,  and  now  today  many  more  or  less 
seductive  forms  of  thought  are  offered  as 
an  alternative  to  the  acceptance  of  Jesus 
Christ.    Shall  we  go  to  these?     Thus  the 
heathenism  of  the  twentieth  century,  the 
worship  of  mammon  and  of  pleasure,  the 
utter  disregard  of  the  glorious  appeal  of 
the  gospel,  comes  with  force  to  us.    Shall 
we  put  Christ  and  all  he  means  or  can 
mean  to  us  out  of  our  minds,  and  fall  in 
with  any  of  the  trends  which  lead  away 
from  him  in  this  busy,  bewildering  age  in 


186  CRISIS  AND  CREED 

which  we  live?  We  still  have  to  answer 
him  with  a  question;  "To  whom  shall  we 
go?"  What  is  offered  to  us  by  anything 
other  than  Christianity  that  we  should  re- 
ject it  and  accept  that  other?  It  is  a 
question  we  ought  to  consider.  What  is 
there  to  me,  as  a  modern  twentieth  century 
person,  in  anything  except  Christ?  To 
whom  shall  I  go  with  my  perplexities  and 
my  sins,  and  my  weaknesses,  and  my  ignor- 
ance, for  real  spiritual  help  amid  the  prob- 
lems and  burdens  of  my  time? 

Perhaps  Peter  would  naturally  be  think- 
ing more  of  the  religious  teachers  of  his 
own  age  and  surroundings.  He  meant, 
most  likely,  should  they  leave  Jesus,  as  a 
teacher,  and  go  to  the  Sadducees  and 
Pharisees?  Should  they  reject  the  won- 
derful guidance  of  Jesus,  with  all  its 
novelty,  and  hope  to  fall  in  with  the  cold 
rationalism  of  the  Sadducees,  or  the  hypo- 
critical formalism  of  the  Pharisees?  Did 
the  Sadducees,  who  prided  themselves  on 
their  intellectual  and  social  standing,  who 
denied  the  supernatural,  believing  in 
neither  angel  nor  spirit,  offer  any  real  help 
to  one  whose  spiritual  needs  were  keenly 
felt?  Should  they  go  to  these  with  the 
hope  of  finding  any  relief  from  sin,  or  any 


CRISIS  AND  CREED  187 

hope  of  immortality?  On  the  other  hand, 
should  they  go  to  the  opposite  party,  and 
fall  in  with  the  scrupulous,  self-righteous 
Pharisees,  who  prided  themselves  on  their 
orthodoxy,  even  to  the  minutest  detail,  but 
omitted  the  weightier  matters  of  the  law? 
Already  the  freshness  and  power  of 
Christ's  teaching  has  exposed  the  hollow- 
ness  and  pretense  of  Pharisaic  tradition 
and  practice.  There  was  nothing  in 
Pharisaism  to  appeal  to  a  genuinely  awak- 
ened and  concerned  spiritual  nature. 

We  see,  of  course,  that  these  two  forms 
of  thought  and  practice  are  still  present 
as  alternatives  to  the  spiritual  acceptance 
of  lesus.  It  is  open  to  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury man  to  fall  into  the  rationalistic,  in- 
tellectual, skeptical,  proud,  hopeless  throng 
of  the  modern  Sadducees.  But  does  this 
alternative  appeal  to  one  who  really  feels 
his  need  of  relief  from  sin?  Does  this 
conception  of  things  offer  any  real  al- 
ternative to  the  gospel?  What  will  one 
gain  to  throw  away  the  Christ  of  the  cross, 
the  Christ  of  history,  the  Christ  of  experi- 
ence, for  the  cool  and  unsatisfying  doubts 
and  speculations  of  any  moral  human 
philosophy?  Or  take  the  other  alternative. 
There  may  be  some  so-called  Christians  to- 


188  CRISIS  AND   CREED 

day,  who  live  on  forms  and  scruples  rather 
than  on  the  bread  of  life.  External  attach- 
ment to  a  church,  scrupulosity  in  creed 
and  conduct  may  take  the  place  of  vital 
godliness  and  a  deep  personal  experience 
of  the  saving  power  of  Jesus  Christ.  Does 
this  sort  of  external  and  shallow  religious- 
ness present  any  real  and  worthy  claim  as 
a  substitute  for  a  genuine,  a  deep  and 
reverent  personal  acceptance  of  Christ? 
Peter's  question,  which  was  also  an  an- 
swer, may  well  be  ours,  too;  ''To  whom 
shall  we  go?" 

Peter's  answer,  however,  was  more  than 
a  question.  It  brought  a  very  positive 
declaration,  and  this  is  the  essence  and 
body  of  the  whole.  The  declarative  part 
of  his  answer  is  twofold,  relating  to  the 
teaching  and  the  teacher:  "Thou  hast 
words  of  eternal  life,  and  we  have  believed 
and  know  that  thou  art  the  Holy  One  of 
God."  The  leader  of  the  apostles  ex- 
presses the  sentiments  of  the  group.  There 
before  them  was  the  great  truth  that 
Jesus  brought  such  teachings  as  no  other 
had  ever  brought,  and  there  in  their  souls 
was  lodged  the  acceptance  and  happy  per- 
suasion that  God  himself  had  spoken  to 
them  in  the  person  of  their  Lord.    This 


CRISIS  AND  CREED  189 

was  a  great  declaration.  Its  intellectual 
and  spiritual  meaning  is  complete.  It  does 
not  go  into  details.  It  does  not  need  to. 
But  it  grasps  the  great  comprehensive  and 
all  important  elements  of  the  Christian 
faith. 

On  the  intellectual  side  there  is  the 
recognition  of  the  essential  truth  of  what 
Jesus  was  teaching.  "Words  of  eternal 
life"  meant  those  words  which  explained 
the  life  eternal,  and  brought  it  near  to  the 
acceptance  of  the  believers.  Jesus  had  a 
message  concerning  the  real  life  of  the 
soul  here  and  hereafter  which  no  other 
teacher  had  brought.  It  was  not  that 
others  had  not  believed  in  the  immortality 
of  the  soul,  and  taught  it,  but  there  is  an 
immeasurable  distance  between  the  sigh- 
ings  of  poetry  and  the  deductions  of 
philosophy  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  posi- 
tive statements  of  Jesus  on  the  other. 
The  w^onderful  teachings  of  our  Lord, 
especially  as  reported  in  the  Gospel  of 
John,  bring  a  message  of  life  and  immor- 
tality found  nowhere  else.  Men  have 
never  wholly  given  up  the  hope  of  life 
eternal.  Even  today  some  great  minds 
have  found  in  the  loftiest  teachings  of 
science  intimations  and  suggestions  of  a 


190  CRISIS  AND  CREED 

life  beyond  death.  Our  Lord  linked  the 
life  of  a  renewed  soul  in  this  world  A\ith 
the  life  that  follows  hereafter.  The 
eternal  life  of  which  he  spoke  was  not 
merely  the  enjojTuent  of  a  blessed  heaven 
after  death,  but  it  was  an  impartation  of 
a  spiritual  life  here  and  now,  which  should 
find  its  completion  and  glorious  fulfillment 
hereafter.  Let  us  soberly  reconsider  all 
that  this  means.  Let  us  take  hold  anew 
of  the  eternal  life  of  which  Jesus  speaks. 
It  is  real  hope,  in  all  the  best  meanings  of 
hope,  while  still  we  live  and  struggle  wth 
our  sins.  It  is  then  to  pass  into  the  highest 
conscious  association  with  the  good  and 
pure,  and  live  forever  with  God.  Many  of 
the  conceptions  of  the  future  were  only 
suggested  in  the  words  of  our  Lord  so  far 
as  we  know  them.  But  more  explicit 
teachings  are  brought  out  in  the  later 
words  of  those  whom  he  authorized  to 
make  known  his  gospel  in  its  fullness. 
Already  Peter  began  to  see  that  there  was 
more  involved  than  the  mere  formal  ac- 
ceptance of  Jesus  as  a  teacher.  He  did  not 
simply  accept  the  dictum  of  one  who  had 
thought  much  and  reached  conclusions,  but 
he  spoke  with  a  glow,  or  animation  of 
words,  that  had  life  in  them ;  life  now  and 


CRISIS  AND  CREED  191 

life  forevermore.  Even  today  we  may 
feel  in  our  own  experience  the  tremulous 
gladness  which  finds  expression  in  Peter's 
language.  In  our  hearts,  to  every  line  of 
inquiry  that  might  lead  us  astray,  we  can 
answer  back  to  Jesus, '  *  Thou  hast  words  of 
eternal  life."  Here  our  souls  repose  and 
wait. 

And  this  was  not  all.    The  main  thing 
is  the  personal  relation  of  the  believer  to 
his  Lord.    ''We  have  believed  and  know 
that  thou  art  the  Holy  One  of  God."    This 
is  the  heart  of  the  whole  matter.    We  do 
not  need  to  inquire  into  all  the  process 
whereby   the   group    of   disciples,   repre- 
sented in  Peter,  had  come  to  this  firm  and 
satisfying  conviction.     It  is   enough   for 
our  present  purpose  to  consider  how  in- 
tense   and    unquestioned    the    conviction 
was.    This  is  the  essence  of  the  Christian 
creed;  to  accept  Jesus  Christ  as  the  true 
representative  of  God.    He  is  the  "Holy 
One  of  God,"  the  Messiah  promised  to 
Israel,  the  authorized  messenger  to  man- 
kind.   What  he  says  bears  the  authority 
of  God  upon  it.    What  he  does  is  the  act 
of  God  in  and  through  him.    His  life  and 
his  teachings  alike  are  the  revelation  of 
God  to  mankind.    The  details  can  be  filled 


192  CRISIS  AND   CREED 

up.  The  essential  truth  is  here  expressed. 
This  is  the  Christian  creed  reduced  to  its 
final  simplicity.  The  loyal  acceptance  of 
Jesus  Christ  as  Teacher  and  Saviour  and 
Lord.  It  is  a  personal  experience.  Not 
a  deduction  of  the  reason  only,  or  at  all, 
but  a  larger  and  more  personal  thing  than 
that.  Paul  expresses  it  for  us  in  that 
great  word  of  his,  * '  This  is  a  faithful  say- 
ing and  worthy  of  all  acceptation,  that 
Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save 
sinners,  of  whom  I  am  chief."  Let  us  fix 
our  minds  on  one  expression,  *' Worthy  of 
all  acceptation,"  that  is,  of  every  accept- 
ance. The  whole  personality  taking  hold 
of  Christ.  Rational,  emotional  and  voli- 
tional movement  toward  Christ,  resulting 
in  complete  surrender  to  him  and  trust  in 
him  is  the  action  of  complete  acceptance. 
To  make  a  personal  matter  of  it,  let  us 
imagine  a  sincere,  though  perplexed, 
modern  Christian.  He  faces  the  impera- 
tive crisis  of  the  time.  The  trend  of 
thought,  the  mass  of  feeling,  the  active  life 
around  him  all  lead  and  influence  him 
away  from  Jesus.  Many  are  going  away 
from  the  Christ  and  walk  no  more  with 
him.  What  shall  he  do!  Moved,  as  Peter 
was,  he  makes  to  his  Lord,  to  himself  and 


CRISIS  AND  CREED  193 

to  friends  the  solemn  declaration,  **I  have 
believed  and  do  know  that  Jesus  is  the 
Holy  One  of  God;  authorized,  and  sent  as 
Teacher  of  the  way  that  leads  to  God  and 
truth;  empowered  as  Redeemer  by  suffer- 
ing to  take  away  sin;  glorified  as  Lord 
and  Sovereign  through  resurrection  and 
ascension,  and  promising  to  come  again  to 
establish  his  kingdom  and  claim  his  own." 
This  Christian  will  say  to  himself,  *'I  have 
believed  this.  It  came  to  me  through  the 
respected  tradition  of  those  who  held  it 
before  me.  My  infant  life  unfolded  under 
this  faith.  My  willing  choice  accepted  it 
in  my  youth.  My  manhood's  struggles 
have  tested  and  confirmed  the  experience 
of  my  soul.  And  so,  standing  here,  I  quiet 
the  doubtings  of  my  own  heart  and  reach 
up  to  my  Lord  and  Master  and  say.  What 
I  have  believed  I  do  now  experience  still. 
Thou  art  the  Holy  One  of  God  to  me.  Thy 
voice  speaks  peace  to  my  troubled  soul 
Thy  presence  assures  my  trembling  and 
doubting  heart,  and  on  this  vantage  ground 
of  personal  trust  and  conscious  love  I  say 
to  everything  that  would  call  me  away 
from  my  Lord,  to  whom  and  to  what  shall 
I  go  from  him?  Not  to  cold,  godless 
atheism,  that  has  no  word  of  help  to  a 


194  CRISIS  AND  CREED 

struggling  spirit.  Not  to  a  proud,  critical 
denial  of  all  historic  tradition  that  means 
and  brings  through  crowding  years  the 
message  of  divine  redeeming  grace.  Not 
to  any  modern  cult  or  whimsy  or  one-sided 
exaggeration  of  half  truth.  Not  to  the 
idols  of  the  market  place,  nor  to  the  sirens 
of  intoxicating  pleasure.  Not  to  the  lure 
of  distinction,  nor  the  crushing  burden  and 
care  of  greed  or  of  gold.  Not  to  any  of  these 
do  my  thoughts  or  feelings  turn  for  help 
and  comfort  in  my  spiritual  life.  Not  to 
any  of  these  for  a  ray  of  hope  to  shine 
upon  the  tomb  and  beckon  my  yearning 
spirit  to  the  life  forevermore.  Oh,  no! 
With  a  quieted  heart  and  an  assured  calm 
of  soul,  amid  all  distracting  voices  and 
magnetic  counter-currents,  I  answer  back 
to  my  Saviour:  Lord,  to  whom  shall  we 
go?  thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life. 
And  we  have  believed  and  do  know  that 
thou  art  the  Holy  One  of  God." 


Printed  in  the  United  Stat$$  of  America 


Date  Due 


1    ini2  01028  9140 


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